The Rotten Core
by AnonymousWriter10113
Summary: This story follows the after math of the movie. (Romance scenes and feelings begin in Ch. 3. If you are looking for intense romance, check out Ch. 8) What was it like for the Descendants? What will happen when four new Descendants come. Intent on revenge against those that couldn't/wouldn't break the barrier? (This happens much later in the story) TRIGGER WARNING.
1. Chapter 1

PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE MAY BE SOME TRIGGERS IN THIS STORY! I WILL try to start and end each trigger with ***. Please let me know if you think that I missed any. This story begins right after the movie ended. I do not own any of the characters or pieces from the movie, Disney owns that. I only own the plot and a few of my own character creations. This is set 8 weeks after the start of school, the coronation happened over the week long break between 8 weeks. Auradon prep is getting ready to start term 2 or the second 8 weeks.

The italicized wording is what the characters are saying in their heads instead of out loud. Enjoy and please review! This is my first story ever so let me know how I did!

Mal POV

 _His face was inches from mine. He looked so cute with his gold crown that still hung crooked from when I messed it up at his coronation. Sure he fixed it a little bit so he didn't look like a complete fool but I knew better. I think he liked the fact that it was off center. He probably thinks that it shows that he isn't the perfect king everyone thinks he is. Ya right. He is perfect. I mean, who else would invite the kids from the Isle of lost to Auradon. Well, maybe he isn't perfect I mean he SAYS he's in love with me. I'm certainly NOT perfect._

 _Wait, he's getting closer now. Shoot! I think he wants to kiss me. I can't kiss him! He'll hate me. But I can't look away. He's so_ _gorgeous_ _and his eyes. I feel like he can see into my rotten soul with those real eyes. I've never seen eyes like his. Granted there wasn't much to choose from on the island..._

Ben got the feeling that Mal was scared of him in that moment. The little bit of fear in her eyes made it seem as if she had never kissed anyone before. He certainly didn't want to make her first kiss so public. It would've appeared all over the tabloids. No, he wanted it to be special without anyone watching or any interruptions.

Damn she was so beautiful though. Ben couldn't help himself. He had to feel her. Make sure that she was real. He placed his hands on the curve of her back and pulled her closer. Soon she was against his chest and her forehead resting against his. They gazed into each other's eyes while the tension in the air built. Anyone watching could've sworn they were about to kiss when suddenly fireworks shot off into the sky.

BOOM

Mal jumped just enough to break the tension and stare up at the wonderful colors that lit up the night sky. This was all for Ben. All because he was the new king.

Well, kind of. He wouldn't be officially in charge until a year after he graduates. He just happened to be elected into the position at 16 while the coronation was just to show the world that he would be the next King of Auradon until he decided to step down. For now he would be learning the ropes under his father. But that was a long way away. Right now he just cared about the half faery in front of him. The most beautiful and perfect girl in the entire world for him. Even if she couldn't see it yet. He was gonna show her. He was gonna teach her what love was.

BOOM

More fireworks lit up the night sky and Mal soon became entranced. They were beautiful and none of it was magic. They sure didn't have this on the island. They couldn't even see them from the island because of the constant clouds. It was never sunny there. In fact, the first time Mal saw the sun in person was when the limo crossed the barrier that brought her here.

BOOM

The grand finale of the fireworks show brought Mal back to reality. How could she be here with her friends having fun when her mother was a 2 inch lizard. The size of the love in her heart. She didn't deserve this. She let her mother down. How could she! She was supposed to be rotten, rotten to the core!

Mal watched as the fireworks started to blur and listened as the music turned to pounding on her head. It was all too much. Too much happiness. Too much color. Too much going on everywhere. She had to get out of here. She needed quiet. She needed dark. She needed alone and she needed it now.

"Hey, you okay Mal?" Ben words barely registered to the girl in his arms. He had watched the whole exchange her face instead of paying attention to the firework display. What once lit up with wonder and excitement at the colors in the sky turned slowly to shock and pain and then nothing. The same hardened face that he had met when he shook her hand for the first time. The face she used when she was guarded. The Mal from the Isle of the Lost. But she wasn't that girl anymore. What happened? What was she thinking of that she felt the need to hide from him?

"Mal" he whispered in her ear when she showed no sign that she had heard him.

"What?" She looked at him with guarded eyes. Had he seen the flicker of emotions as she tried to control them?

"I asked if you were okay?"

"Oh, ya I'm fine. It's just a little bit too much stimulation. I'm just gonna go sit down for a while." She pulled out of his arms and turned leave him on the balcony. She needed to get out of her and fast.

"Are you sure that's all?" Ben grabbed her as gently as he could and turned her back to him. "I know it was a tough day and all."

"It's not that. It's just a lot to take in. We didn't have this much... Excitement on the island." Ben mouth frowned and he let her go. He knew she was lying to him about what was bothering her. But he also knew that he couldn't make her tell him. He just wished she would confide in him.

Mal left in a hurry and winded her way around the other students. She kept a close eye on Ben and waited till he turned away from her before ducking into the forest. She needed to be some place alone. She needed to think, clear her head or something.

She wondered around the forest until she came upon the enchanted lake. This looked like as good a place as any to be alone. She made her way to the cliff where she could see the party in case anyone decided to follow her. It was quiet here. Peaceful even and had happy memories. Except for the fact that she almost drowned. Maybe that's why she chose this spot. It would be easy to fake an accidental death.

Mal sat on the cliff side and canceled her feet off the edge. She thought about the events of the day and how it all went down. She tried so hard to make some happiness come out of her situation, but it was hard when her mother was a tiny lizard.

 _I did that. I caused her to become that._

The tines the pride filled her heart for just a moment that she was able to defeat the great Malifacent. That was, until she remembered that she also destroyed her mother.

"Mom, I'm so sorry" she whispered to the sky. Falling onto her back to look up at the millions of stars that never showed their face on the Isle.

 _So many people in the world and I had to go and destroy everyone in my world. How could I have done that? Mother was right. I am worthless. I'll never be good. I'll never be good enough for anyone. Their happy I chose good now. But_ _tomorrow, when the sun rises, I'll be an outcast again. They'll hate me and I'll never be with Ben. I'm not good enough for him. I'll never be the pure one he deserves._

She screamed in frustration out at the stars for cursing her to this rotten life.

"Rotten to the core, that's what I am."

"Well, technically we are all rotten to the core. But we make the best of it." Mal bolted up right, ready to pounce on whoever was trespassing.

"Easy M," Jay held up his hands showing he meant no harm, " it's just me." He came closer to her after she turned back to the lake below her cliff and sat beside her, bumping his shoulder against hers.

"So, you wanna tell me why you left the party in such a hurry?"

"No"

"Okay, how about why you're up here all alone without your Benny boo." He joked trying to lighten the mood.

"No"

They sat in silence just watching the ripples in the water. Jay knew she'd let him in when she was ready. She always did before. She may not have ever answered his questions or told him what was bothering her, but he knew enough. They were the oldest in their little group and had been friends for a very long time. He could read her well enough to get by. They were the toughest, the most rotten on the entire Isle. They had seen and experienced the worst of the worst. Some that even Evie and Carlos didn't know about and couldn't know about. It would only make the pain each one of them felt worse.

"Jay" her words came out soft that he barely heard her.

"Hmm?"

"Do you ever wonder if our parents ever once felt the finest spark of love for us?" Jay took a side glance at her. Where was this question coming from? And her tone! She sounded so broken. Jay hadn't heard that tone in months! Not since the night before they left the Isle for good.

"I don't know Mal. Maybe Evie's mom did or Carlos's before she went bat shit crazy. You know how my dad feels." He sighed. Here comes the hard part "of I think your mother might have. Otherwise she wouldn't be two inches long."

"She's two inches because she loves revenge and fire and all things evil." Jay watched her head fall forward and her purple hair cover her face. He barely heard the rest of her statement.

"Not me"

"Come on Mal, she know she felt-"

"STOP!" Her sudden anger made him gulp. He didn't like where this conversation was going.

Once again her shoulders slumped. Jay looked back towards the party when he felt her arm fall into his lap limply Palm up.

"I don't want to feel this way anymore"

" Mal" he pleaded with her. "I don't want to do this anymore"

"Please Jay" his head snapped up. She never says please!

"Just do it." Jay turned to look at the once confident girl next to him. He didn't want to do this. He hadn't wanted to do this for a few weeks now. Not since he started tourney.

"I can't."

"Please Jay, I need this." Her voice pleaded. "Just once," she added as she looked him in the eye finally.

That's what finally did it for him. The despair in her eyes. She didn't know how to cope. Not healthly anyway. At least he could help her cope one more time.

"On one condition, don't ask me to do this again." She stared blankly at him before she gave him the slightest of nods.

Resigned to his fate, he gripped the pocket knife he always kept in his shoe. "I mean it Mal. Please, I'm begging you. Find a better way to cope. We aren't on the Isle anymore"

"Okay" he placed the tip of the blade against her pale arm. Watching her face, he pressed until her felt her arm twitch. Not a single emotion ever flickered across her face as she watched him.

He waited till her shoulders relaxed and her breathing became labored before he let go. Tossing the knife into the enchanted lake he got up and left. He was so mad at himself for doing that again. She stormed off to the party to find his girl. Dancing with his princess would take his mind of the horrors of his past.

Yes, that's what I need

He thought to himself when he found her dancing in the crowd. Through his anger at himself, he never noticed that the knife never made it to the lake.

Mal watched the knife fall down the cliff in slow motion. She couldn't let it go. This may be the last time Jay cut her, but it wouldn't be the last time she got cut. It couldn't be. The memories of the day were too fresh in her mind.

Mal reached out to stop the knife from falling with her magic. She was too focused on the pain in her heart to register that she had stopped the knife without uttering a word. A feat that Malifacent never accomplished.

She willed the knife to come back until rested in her hands. Jay was already long gone and at the party by now. She was feeling better, more grounded now though so she put the knife in her dress. She hide it later. Right now she just wanted to wash her arm off.

She made her way down the cliff to the little gazebo where her first date with Ben was held. Kneeling by the water she reflected on her decisions since she got to Auradon.

 _How did it all lead to this?_

Bens POV

He watched as his little half faery wadded her way through the crowd. Damn she was fast. He had trouble keeping his eye on her. Already she was a master at crowds. If she only knew how great of a queen she naturally was

 _His queen_. He liked the sound of that.

Lost in his thoughts for a moment but that was all it took for her to slip away.

 _Shoot._ He scrambled away searching for her.

 _Where was she? I just looked away for a second!_ He had checked all the tables, the stairs, the punch bowl, and even the gardens to no avail. She was gone. The longer he searched the more worried he became. He was so lost in his thoughts trying to find her that he didn't notice the girl before him.

"BEN!"

Startled from his thoughts he looked at the girl. "Not now Audrey" he attempted to move past her to no avail.

"Ben wait! Have you seen Jay?"

"Jay? Why do you want to know where Jay is?"

"He's my date Benny boo"

"Don't call me that"

"Sorry, but have you seen him?"

"No Audrey."

"Hey foxy lady." Jay's voice rang out from beside them. He had snuck up on them while they bickered smirking. Some things never change.

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you!" She grabbed his hand and started yanking him towards the dance floor.

"Wait Jay!" Ben's voice rang out. "Have you seen Mal?"

Hesitation flickered across Jays face followed by regret. What was that about? Ben was extremely good at ridding people's faces. He had to be. He was the new king. The only one to stump him from time to time was Mal.

"Sorry man. I haven't seen her. Maybe try Evie? I think she was by the punch bowl with Doug"

"Thanks"

Confused by Jays reaction, Ben walked, well more like strided, over to the punch bowl again just in time to see Evie get hit with punch by Doug.

"Oh you are so dead mister" she threatened mischievously but anyone around could tell that her and Doug were just having some fun.

"Hey Evie, I hate to interrupt but have you seen Mal?"

"Ya she was just headed to the fo-" Evie smacked Doug before he could say more. Mal looked troubled and probably went to blow some steam off.

"She just went to bed. Sorry you missed her! She looked really tired. Ya know it was a really long day for her. Maybe you should go back to dancing. I'm sure the guys would love to challenge you to a dance off or something." Evie breathed out in such a rush that Ben hardly knew what she said beside that Mal went to bed while Doug just looked at his girlfriend funny.

His face fell and Evie felt bad for lying to him.

"Thanks Evie, I'll see you guys later" Ben left the new couple to go see his mother. Might as well make the best of it.

Evie watched his retreating figure until she was satisfied with his direction. When she turned to her date she was surprised to see him looking angry at her.

"So, do you want to tell me why you just lied to the king. I can't think of any good reason that would be good enough for you to risk his beast side."

"Look Doug, I'm sorry but Mal looked upset when she walked away. I know Mal and as a good friend, I know that she just wants to be left alone."

"But Jay followed her"

"Ya, he always does but he came back alone and frustrated. Probably because she didn't want to talk. Now come on, let's have fun. If she isn't back by noon tomorrow then I'll tell Ben what really happened. Okay?"

Doug seemed to think about it before he shrugged. "Fine, but why noon?"

Evie sighed and looked at the floor. "Because sometimes she doesn't come back in the morning"

"What!"

"Doug calm down! It's nothing. It's just that sometimes on the Island, if things got too tough she would go blow off steam somewhere. Most likely pass out from exhaustion and then be fine by noon. It's no big deal."

"But don't you think Ben, ya know her boyfriend and King would want to be there for her."

"Well of course! But she wouldn't want anyone to see her like this. Heck! She'd kill me for telling you!"

"Why?" He suddenly feared for his and his girlfriend's safety.

"She feels it's a weakness. Nobody knows about it except the four of us and now you. Please just let it go. Let's dance!" She pouted.

 _Damn that pout. I can't ever resist that face._

"Fine, but I'm leading this time"

"Whatever you say" she laughed happy that she got him to drop it for now but she worried for her friend. Jay never came back alone when he followed her. Was she okay? She'd have to ask him later tonight when they all met up in his room. The girls didn't want to sleep in their room tonight. It was too big of a reminder of Mal's mother. Despite the pretty pink colors, it was everything Mal got when she gave up her mom.

Evie could feel her temptation to use her coping mechanism when she thought about it. She shook her head of the thoughts. She was with Doug know. He made her happy, really happy. She didn't need that other stuff in her life anymore. None of them did. They all had something to live for. Something to be better than rotten for. Carlos had his dog. Jay had tourney. Evie had her clothes line and Doug. Mal had Ben. They also had each other. Everything was going to be fine now.

How wrong Evie was. Everything was just getting started. The real challenges had yet to come.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys! Thank you for the reviews! Here is the next chapter. I'll try to post more later today! ++++++++++++++++++++

Evie POV:

"Goodnight Evie." Doug kissed Evie on the cheek and blushed redder than she did. He had walked her all the way back to her room after leaving the after party clean up and was in a hurry to go back to his room. It was curfew in 10 minutes and everyone knew that Fairy Godmother despised anyone out past their curfew. It was an automatic way to get expelled in her eyes. Not that that deterred the villain's kids in any way.

Once Evie had shut the door she looked around the room for any sign of Mal's return. Her coronation dress wasn't anywhere and it appeared as if none of her stuff had moved an inch. Evie started to worry even more. She hadn't seen Mal since she left the feast and they were due in Jay and Carlos's room now! Ben was in a mopey mood and didn't even dance with his mother. In fact, he never left his parents side the rest of the evening.

 _Where in the world could that girl possibly be at this hour!_

Evie decided to wait until she was done with her beauty sleep ritual and if she was no back by then then she would magic mirror her before she headed to the boys room.

 _They are just going to have to wait._

Evie slowly took off all her makeup, washed hair face, put lotion on, changed into her pajamas, and brushed her hair 300 times before putting it in a braid and deciding that she was now ready for bed. She moved so slow that her hair brush got stuck in her hair more often then it normally did. Every passing minute her heart sunk as her best friend never came. An hour after curfew and Mal still was not back yet.

 _Enough is enough!_

She huffed out a frustrated groin and went to fetch her mirror from her nightstand.

"Magic mirror in my hand, show me where Mal is," she asked of the mirror. Its glass swirled and looked as if it was going to form before it swirled again and never stopped.

"Well, that was a bust." Evie was even more worried now. Mal never blocked her from view before. What was up with her that she wanted to be completely alone?

 _I'm just going to have to see what Jay says._

Evie peeked out her door as a flash of pink ran disappeared behind another door.

 _Guess I'm just going to have to be careful._

After wandering around the halls to avoid Fairy Godmother and the other rule breakers, she finally made it to the boy's dorm and pounded on the door. Fumbling and a crash could be heard from inside the door before it burst open to revel a sweaty Carlos.

"Evie! What are you doing here?" he said very confused.

"Carlos! Mal and I are spending the night, remember?"

"Huh?"

"Ugh, just let me in," she pushed through the door as Carlos finally remembered that Mal and her were supposed to spend the night.

The crash heard earlier had come from the table. Evie turned back to Carlos and pointed at the table that Carlos had managed to knock over.

 _Probably playing his silly game again._

"Oh, right. Sorry I was playing this cool game. I'm on level 100 Ev! Can you believe it? The last level!" Evie smirked at that knowing all too well the hazards of his game play.

"Great for you. Where's Jay?" _Honestly, I could care less about your stupid game right now. Our friend is missing! She could be dead or worse._

"Oh," his face fell when his friend wasn't very excited for him. It had taken him weeks to beat that last level! "Last I saw was him talking to Audrey but he should be back soon."

Evie had picked up on her friend's sadness at her missing enthusiasm for him. Deciding that there was nothing for her to do now except wait for Jay, she chose to humor him.

"I'm sorry Carlos, I'm just stressed. That's really good you beat that level, I'm happy for you."

"Evie, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, it can wait."

"No, you're worried, you've got frown lines on your forehead."

"What!" Her hands shot up to her forehead as she ran to the mirror to look, seeing none she turned to a very red Carlos. He was trying so hard not to burst out laughing at her, but it didn't work.

"I'm sorry!" He ducked as she threw a pillow at his face. "You just seemed so serious and it was the perfect moment."

 _I'll give him that._ A small smile tugged at her lips.

"Alright fine, I'm just worried about Mal."

"Mal? You're joking right?"

"No I'm s-" before she could finish the door was opened and in walked Jay, oblivious to the girl in his room.

Jay's POV :

"JAY!" he jumped a foot into the air.

"What! What's going on?" He looked at the direction of the voice thinking it to be an attack of some kind and found to his surprise Evie in her blue pajamas and red fuzzy slippers that had hearts on them instead of bunnies. Her long blue hair was braided back and hanging over her left shoulder. She had no makeup on and was as pale as Snow White. He relaxed after seeing no immediate threat.

"Where the hell is Mal?"

 _What kind of question was that?_

"How should I know? She's probably off sucking face with Ben somewhere." He stormed angrily to his bed and threw his tie on it.

 _Honestly, I'm not her keeper._

"No she isn't. What did you do?" Carlos looked between his fuming friends. He was staying out of this fight. He had a level to beat.

"And how do you know that she isn't?" he asked as he unbuttoned his dress shirt. Jay was getting annoyed. This was not what he had in mind when he said the girls could stay in his room tonight.

"Because Ben hasn't seen her since she ran off into the forest which is why I am asking you." At his dumbfounded look she added, "you followed her into the forest and didn't come back with her and she hasn't been back to the room so where is she?" her voice slowly raising to a yell with each word she said.

 _Wow, wait, what? She's still in the forest?_

He took a look at his clock on the wall and couldn't believe his eyes.

 _It's been hours since I left her!_

"Crap" he sat on his bed and threw his head onto the mattress.

"Crap is right, what the hell happened out there!"

"I have no idea. It's different here, but she still doesn't tell me everything."

"Well, we have to go find her." Evie made for the door while Carlos paused his game. He had been listening to the whole fight the entire time. He was worried about his best friend based on Jay's reaction.

 _(Carlos POV) That was odd. He normally never cares when she is out past curfew alone._

"No"

"Excuse me?" Both Carlos and Evie stopped and starred at the Arabian.

"Let her be, this is Mal we are talking about. She's the most badass person on the planet. She's fine. She probably just needed space to herself."

"What if she's hurt!"

 _You have no idea how much that girl can get through hurt._

"It's Mal, she's not hurt and you know it. You and I both know that she is fine." Carlos, realizing that Jay had won the argument and that they were not going to go find Mal, resumed play of his game.

"Fine! If she isn't back by noon then let's go look for her" She huffed and sat herself down on Carlos's bed.

"And why should we do that?"

"Because I'm worried." Carlos and Jay both knew there was more to the story.

"And"

"And I sorta told Doug." At that Carlos dropped his game controllers and lost the round, but at that moment he did not care. Both boys gaped at the girl in their room.

"You did WHAT?" Carlos stood open mouthed after finally contributing to the conversation.

"He was with me when Ben came up and I couldn't lie to him." She blushed and cast her eyes to the floor ashamed.

"Mal is going to kill you" came Carlos's squeak.

"Why not? We are rotten! Villain's kids! Lying is second nature to us! We are bad!" Jay screamed.

"Well, I don't want to be bad anymore. Doug is the one guys and I intend on having the ideal relationship with my prince."

"Uhm, Evie" Carlos mumbled, "Doug isn't a prince."

"Not legally no, but he is a prince to me besides, I really am worried. I asked my mirror to find her and it couldn't."

"She blocked you?" Jay asked after sitting up.

"I think so. She's the only one that knows how."

Jay sat in silence pondering this new development.

 _Mal blocked Evie? Why? What did I miss? I was sure she was just upset about her mom. Damn, when did she become so hard to read?_

"Fine, we can all go look for her at noon but on one condition" Jay surprised them both, "No Ben."

"Why not? He deserves to know his _girlfriend_ is missing" Evie declared.

"Because Mal will kill us" Carlos clarified.

"You know it's true" Jay mumbled.

"Fine, but if we don't find her by the day after tomorrow by noon, I'm going to Ben. Deal?"

"Deal" They all said together and fist bumped. That was their way of sealing a promise that they would keep even if their life depended on breaking it.

Mal POV

"Evie! Turn off the lights!" Mal screamed into the air. She rolled over onto her side and hit her face in the water of the lake.

 _What in the world was that?_

She bolted upright confused on her surroundings.

 _How am I still at the Enchanted Lake?_

The sunlight burned into her eyes and her hands flew up to rub the oncoming headache away.

 _Wait, sunlight? What time is it?_

She turned to look up at the sun's position in the sky.

 _10 am! How did I sleep so long? I remember coming here upset and then Jay and…_

Her hands flew to her bare arm.

 _No mark_.

Mal raised her arm to inspect. There wasn't even a scratch or a pink line. It was as if it never happened.

 _But it did happen. I felt it. I can still feel he knife in my dress._ _But that means… How?_

Mal had always been a quick healer. What would take her best friends' weeks to heal into a pink scar would only take her days. However, it never took a few hours to heal completely before. At least, not on the Isle it didn't.

She flexed her arm and noted that there wasn't even a twinge of pain. Deciding to test it further, she rolled over and attempted to do a push up. That is, until she slipped on her dress and fell into the mud.

 _Great, Evie is so going to kill me now._

Deciding that she needed a wardrobe change, she unzipped the dress and stepped out of it. She took one of the fringe layers at the bottom of the dress and fashioned it into a tube top that held her breasts in place. She then ripped more pieces of the dress in order to make some sort of shorts. However, she was still stuck in her heels.

 _She is definitely going to kill me now, but only if I don't kill her first for making me wear these damn things on my feet. They keep sinking into the ground!_

Throwing what was left of the dress aside, she took one last long look at the knife before deciding it was worthless and threw it back into the lake.

She turned away from the lake and decided to try out that push up now. Sports were not her thing like they were for Jay. While she enjoyed working out as much as an athlete, her thing was fighting. The people on the Isle didn't just fear her because of her mother or her possible magic capabilities, but also for her skills as a fighter. She was gifted but she also was not stupid. Her reputation had been made on one fight. She didn't need to go around and fight everyone just for the fun of it. She preferred people to underestimate her.

 _Well, these pushups are a cake walk. Let's see, maybe handstands._

Again, nothing she could do was causing any pain to her freshly healed arm.

 _Hmm, that's odd. I'll have to ask Fairy Godmother about that later._

She decided to walk around and stretch her sore muscles instead. Sleeping on cement was not as fun as it sounded.

 _Wait, I can't ask her. She'll want to know where I got the cut from. Damn, I'll just figure it out on my own then. Maybe a run will clear my mind. It'll definitely be interesting without any shoes on._

She took off running away from the school leaping over fallen trees and jumping from tree to tree if rocks were in her way. She kept this up until she had made a circle around the school and was back in the clearing by the Enchanted Lake.

SNAP

She froze and tensed up her muscled. To any on lookers, it would be obvious that she was ready to attack. Her face was masked into the hardened Mal from the Isle.

"She was up here last time I saw her" Jay's voice carried on the wind.

 _What is he doing? He knows how to be quieter than that! Oh, right._

It dawned on her that he was being louder on purpose in order to prepare her so that she did not pounce on her friends.

 _He must not be alone._

"Why would she be up here still though?" Doug asked.

 _Evie, I am going to kill you._

"Well, this is her and Ben's special spot. It's where they had their first date," her sing song voice rang up the hill.

"But it is also where he broke the love spell and pretending to still be in to her," Carlos said. Mal's heart sank. She knew it was too good to be true.

"He loves her Carlos! He was NOT pretending to be in love with her. He actually is." Evie mused.

 _Thanks Ev._

"Ya, besides he loved her even while him and Audrey were still together," Doug added. Mal's eyebrows shot up in surprise. That was not something Mal knew.

"Which is why she's MINE now," Jay growled out. "Aren't we supposed to be looking for Mal anyway."

"Oh right, MAL!" Evie screamed out. She was followed by the rest of the search party screaming Mal's name.

"Seriously guys, you are going to wake up the whole forest and I know Snow White would be livid with you for that." Mal stepped out from behind a tree to greet them. Their yells were getting increasingly annoying.

"MAL!" Evie screamed as she lunged, "You're okay." She tackled Mal to the ground.

"Get off!" Mal pushed Evie to the side and stood up. "Why wouldn't I be okay?" She starred at her friends daring them to answer.

"Well, you were gone all night?" Carolos squeaked out.

"When has that ever been a reason for a search party?" They all cast their eyes to the forest floor. Mal turned to Evie and willed her to answer.

"Since I saw Jay follow you and then you both didn't come back." Mal's eyes narrowed. "I was worried okay!" Evie threw her hands up in desperation.

After a long pause Mal's demeanor softened and she held out her hand for Evie to take to stand.

"I'm fine guys, really. You don't have to watch out for me all the time."

"Are you sure because you have almost zero clothes covering your pale body," Jay pointed out.

 _Thanks Jay. Now I have to deal with an angry Evie._

"Is that my? No! You didn't Mal?"

Mal gave her best friend a half smile.

"How could you1 I worked so hard on that dress!"

"Well, now you can make a new dress. Besides, I couldn't exactly wonder around the forest in the ball gown and heels now could I?"

 _Speaking of which, I know I fell wrong on my ankle that last jump. Why wasn't my ankle swollen and discolored at all?_

Evie responded by just glaring at her. As usual, Jay stayed out of the fight but positioned himself towards the middle just in case he needed to keep Mal back. The all knew what Mal was capable of when she was mad ad nobody wanted to be on the receiving end of it. Carlos preferred to stay on the sidelines and wait for the mood to relax as it always did.

"Uhm, I hate to interrupt but maybe you should put some clothes on now or something?" Doug stated, "I mean not that the majority of the male population wouldn't mind seeing your attributes, but that Fairy Godmother would mind and possibly King Ben as well."

Mal turned her stare from Evie to Doug and he physically gulped. Doug was uncomfortable under that gaze and found himself inching behind Evie.

 _Smart boy she chose, good for them._

Mal rolled her eyes and let her powerful glare drop. "And where exactly do you suppose I get a cover up. I destroyed my dress making this."

"What did you do that for?" Jay asked curious. It didn't slip his notice that there wasn't a single imperfection on her skin anywhere. Not even where he cut her last night. His eyes zeroed in on her arm.

 _(Jay POV) There isn't even a scratch! How? I felt it pierce through her skin!_

Mal noticed his eyes drift to her arm and she took a step closer. When their eyes finally met, she tried to explain that she didn't know how either without words. Unfortunately, Doug noticed.

(Doug POV) _I thought her and Ben were a thing? Why is Jay looking at her like that? He's with Audrey for Pete's sake!_

"Here" Carlos took off his fur coat and threw it at Mal. She caught it without even glancing and slipped it on. It barely curved everything, but it left Carlos in a black wife beater. While that wasn't against school rules, it was frowned upon. Plus it made him look older and less like the type of man scared of a fluffy dog.

"Thanks Carlos" Mal said sweetly after throwing a smile his direction. She looked around at all her friends.

 _I am not alone. I can do this. I am not alone. I have a family. I have a sister and two brothers that love me. And I have Ben who loves me and makes me happy. Ben. The sweet teal eyed boy who wants to teach me how to love and to be good. Everything my mother isn't. STOP IT. Do NOT go there today or ever again._

Mal realized she ditched Ben at the party and felt the need to apologize as soon as possible. "I think I should go shower guys. I kinda smell like rocks. Let's get out of here." She motioned her friends to follow her down to the school and they all rolled their eyes at her back.

 _Of course she's fine! She's Mal!_

"I saw that" Mal yelled at her friends.

(Doug POV) _How in the world did she do that?_

They all made their way back to their respective rooms except for Doug who followed back to Evie's room with Mal. Apparently it was a date day for them.

Mal decided to shower first and then go see Ben and hopefully make things up with him. She didn't want to lose him because of one night's weakness.

 _Boy do I have a lot of explaining to do._


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey Guys! Sorry that it took so long for me to update. It's been a crazy weekend. I'll try to update soon!**

Bens POV

"Sir, there's a new stack of bills that require your approval and Lady Belle requires you to be present at lunch today."

"Thank you chip, can you let me know when she is here?"

"Yes sir" The young boy bowed to his new king and left the room. The stacks of bills were growing larger by the day. Unfortunately, school would start soon for second term and the work load would be worse but fortunately he wouldn't have to deal with the kingdom entirely during that time. That would be his father's job. He could look forward to spending the school year with a certain purple half-faery. Mal. The love of his life. He was worried that he hadn't seen her yet today and it was almost 2.

 _Maybe she isn't feeling well still. Yesterday may have been too much for her. I wish I could've gotten away to go see her._

He was due for lunch with his mother at exactly 2 for lunch. The old queen may be the only person in the entire world who thinks time is so important like the Fairy Godmother. It was already 1:50 and it was at least a 10 minute drive from his father's castle. They were meeting at the school to go in to town for lunch.

Knock. Knock.

Ben groaned. "What is it?" His held fell back as he waited to chip to tell him more bad news. Maybe the rumors were right and there was a possible uprising of salad forks at the castle.

 _That would be fun to deal with. Uprisings at the castle are always fun and they always make my dad red in the face._

Instead he heard the doors shut and a few steps taken but no words uttered.

That's when the smell hit him. Her smell. It was so unique. Like sweet vanilla mixed with a hint of cinnamon and something else. She was the only person who smelled that way.

 _Damn she smells too good._

He lifted his head and opened his eyes to see the girl of his dreams before him. She had on the same purple jacket that she wore the first time they met but underneath plain black jeans with holes up and down the front and a tight black top. There was a thin line of pale skin between where the shirt ended and the low rise jeans started.

What he wouldn't give to feel her skin! He is eyes continued to travel up until they met her face and purple hair that was tied back. His throat constricted when he realized that she was easily the hottest one in the kingdom and the most beautiful on the inside and out. Plus, she was his. His to love for as long as he could.

"Hey Mal" he gulped.

 _Way to be smooth Ben._

Her smell was tough but the site of her alone was intoxicating. It took all his strength not to leap over the desk and pin her to the wall. It was hard keeping his beast tendencies in check around her. He would've loved to run his fingers on her skin and his nose through her hair just to engulf her sent. He wished he could show her just how much he loved her all day today and every other day, but he had a lunch date with his mother. His mother would kill him if he ever cancelled on her. She made that clear the one and only time he had canceled on her. It was to spend the lunch with Audrey at her castle. Audrey had made it clear that if he did not cancel with his mother then she was going to dump him. At the time, he did not want to break up with her. Now, he wished he had broken up with her. He would've been able to pursue Mal sooner.

Imagining for a moment while he stared at her across the room what it would be like to have those plump lips finally kiss his.

 _I bet she's better then Audrey. She kisses like a fish._

Him tangling his hands in her hair to pull her closer, hearing her moan in pleasure and answering with his own growl. His dad may no longer be a beast, but he did pass don some beast like tendencies, especially in the bedroom.Noticing the growing tightness in his pants, he focused on her eyes alone and shifted closer to the desk till he could calm down.

"Hey Ben" His eyebrow rose out of surprise more so then anything else. She was the first person to not call him King Ben all day. It was refreshing.

Mistaking his eyebrow for annoyance, she quickly added, "King Ben." She cast her eyes to the ground missing his frown of annoyance.

 _Damn, I hope I didn't scare her. I didn't mean to I was just surprised._

After noticing his silence, she looked up quickly and noticed he was still starring at her funny. She cleared her throat to get his attention.

"I can go get Chip if you need him. I don't think there is an uprising of salad forks though. Sorry." She smirked at him to lighten the mood.

"No, no. I don't need him." He smiled at her.

 _How did she know I thought about that? This is getting awkward. Crap, I need to calm down. I can't jump her when she isn't comfortable with me kissing her yet. Deep breaths. In and out. Wait, what she say?_

"Huh" suddenly paying attention to what she was saying.

"I asked how the rest of the party was." Disappointment crossed her face. Ben wasn't paying attention to her

MAL POV

 _Maybe I was just a fun fling_.

"Oh, it was alright. I spent most of the time with mom." He smiled at her to relax her. Finally able to stand up without scaring her he added while coming out from behind the desk. "How was your night?"

She shuffled on her feet while he leaned against the front of the desk.

 _He's so hot. I just want to kiss him. Tourney really chiseled him out good._

He was dressed up in grey suit pants and a white dress shirt. It was tucked in but had the sleeves rolled up showing off his arm muscles. The first three buttons were undone showing off his chest. His hair was a ruffled mess as if he had been running his hands through it constantly.

 _I wish I could run my hands through his golden brown locks._

"It was good. I'm sorry I left."

"It's fine. Evie said you went back to your room. I understand, it can be very overwhelming sometimes."

 _Great, I owe Evie one big one now._

"Ya, it's just, it's a lot all at once." She played with the zipper of her jacket. "So, um, did you want to, I don't know, maybe go ha-"

Before she could finish her sentence, chip came bursting through the door.

"Sir! The car is here and you must go now or you will be more than 2 minutes late!"

Ben suddenly flew off the desk to grab his jacket and his things. He had totally forgot that he was in a hurry.

"Sorry Mal. I have this lunch date that is very important and I'm super late. Can we talk later?" Not realizing his mistake in his explanation. He came hurrying past her before turning back and grabbing her head to kiss her hair roughly. He took a deep breath with his nose buried in her hair before turning and hurrying out the door. He really wanted her sent to stay with him while he had lunch. He normally couldn't go more than a few hours without picking up her scent. He was going crazy after going almost 24 hours without it today. Now that he had it, he knew that he could make it through the rest of the day.

"Um, ok-"

 _Well, that was terrible. He's going on a date? And not with me? But he kissed my head again? Maybe he does that with all his friends?_

Mal left his room lost in her thoughts.

 _Maybe I'm just another publicity stunt to him. Oh sure look good dating a reformed rotten villain kid. Reformed. Hah! I'll always be rotten though._

"Mal!"

She turned to see Jay running up to her.

 _Great, I don't have time for this._

"Mal, wait a second!" He hurried down the door.

 _Nope not happening. Leave me alone Jay._

She continued walking away but a little bit faster now.

"Mal just stop!" He finally caught up to her and grabbed her arm.

"What do you want Jay! Do you want to know what got me upset? Well, I'm not going to tell you! Do you want to know why I didn't come with you? Not saying. Do you want to know what happened? I'd like to know too but news flash, I don't. There everything you wanted to know and nothing that you needed to." She yelled at him with her fists clenched at her sides and started to turn away.

 _I do not need this right now._

Jay took a step back noticing her green eyes flashing like they used to on the island when she picked a fight with her mom. She was super mad at something if that happened. That always happened on the Island as a warning to those who made her mad. She may not have had magic then, but she does now making her even more dangerous. He did not know what she was capable of now. He didn't think this anger was directed at him though.

"I just want to make sure you are okay." She stopped in her tracks.

"Why" she asked with her back to him.

"Because of last night and you didn't come back till 2 hours ago." She turned back to him and stepped forward, her eyes softened to their normal green and lost their flare.

"I'm fine."

"Fine or 'fine'?" her eyes narrowed at him, "Okay sorry. Where'd you go?"

"I honestly don't know."

"Okay, so do you want to grab lunch then?"

"No. Go ask Audrey. She's your girlfriend."

"No, she isn't."

"You have the hots for her, ask her out."

"But right now I'm worried about you. We all are. Audrey can wait."

"Ya right, maybe when my mother learns how to love." She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm fine. Really, stop worrying."

"Where's the knife?" he sighed and placed his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to look him in the eye.

"How should I know, you threw it."

"Right" he smiled.

 _I swear, sometimes, you are more of a ditz then Evie._

"As much as I enjoy our banter" _not_ " I'm going to go for a run now" _running always helps me clear my mind._

Jays face fell. "What are you running from?"

Deciding not to answer, Mal walked back to her room in silence. The halls were now bustling with students doing last minute homework and preparing for classes along with workers updating the decorations with King Ben's new insignia, initials, and seal. Nobody noticed the half-faery wandering the halls in a daze.

 _Of course, why would they? I'm not anyone special._

She frowned at her own statement and turned into her room. Evie was long gone on a date with her boyfriend.

 _Must be nice being in love with someone who loves you back. Not like I'll ever get that chance. Even if I ever learn what love is._

Mal walked over to the dresser dropping her jacket on the bed. She pulled out shorts and a running top to change into. She quickly changed, refusing to look in the mirror at the silver scars that covered parts of her body that were never seen by anyone. Each one of those scars had a story that would send anyone of the Auradon natives into a mental institution. Life on the Isle was anything but easy. Everyone was raised by the villains of the story and the few kids that turned out good were killed. She kicked her boots across the room and grabbed her sneakers from under her bed. She decided to do a couple stretches before she'd take off.

"It's so nice to finally talk to someone and be myself" she heard Evie say on the other side of the door.

 _Shit. I don't want run into her. I'm not in the mindset for her questions._

Mal quickly disappeared in a blink to the forest where she caught a glimpse of a man dressed in a grey suit and a women in a yellow dress get in the Kings limo and drive off.

 _Must be his date. Funny, she's wearing his colors. Something that I will never wear._

Evie POV

Evie opened the door to her room with Mal expecting her best friend to still be there doing homework. Sadly she was not, but Evie still noticed the puff of purple smoke leave just as she was opening the door. Rolling her eyes she mentally reminded herself to yell at Mal for that. She was lucky Doug did not see. Not that he would tell on her for using magic, but that she was getting to used to using it. It was either Mal being Mal or it was getting stronger and Mal did not notice.

 _That would explain last night, but that would also be really bad. Lost time is the first sign of a possible dragon form. That could be extremely bad._

Evie had more important things to worry about right now though. Like a certain boy that was not legally a prince entering her room.

"I know what you mean, I feel like I have to pretend to be dumb around Dad." Doug answered as he closed the door. Auradon's only rule regard boys and girls was the curfew and separate dorm rooms. They expected their students to act with decency naturally considering a majority of them were royal. They all knew the consequences of unprotected sex. Even Charming Jr. wasn't that stupid to risk it.

"I always have to be ditzy around mother." Evie sat on her bed and patted the seat next to hers.

"Why do our parents expect us to be just like them?" Doug took to the hint and went to sit by her.

"Why can't they just want more for us?"

"Want us to better than them?" They were inches from each other's faces as they finished each other's sentences.

"For what it's worth, I think you have all the qualities of a true prince from the fairytales. Evie blushed.

"I, well, ugh, thanks." Doug struggled to get out. Evie was very close and he could feel her breath as she breathed out on his cheek.

"Your welcome." She kissed his cheek and blushed as he turned as red as Snow White's lips.

Suddenly feeling bold, Doug grabbed her chin and pushed his lips against hers. She was so surprised that her mouth was slightly open and his top lip forced its way between hers making it impossible to shut them. It was the most perfect kiss Evie had ever had. It was Doug's first though so he did not know what to do after that. Sensing his unknown, Evie sucked in his top lip for a moment before proceeding to kiss Doug. He caught on fast and pulled her head closer and sucked on her bottom lip before continuing to kiss her. They both pulled away breathless.

"Wow." Evie whispered, "I didn't know that kissing could feel that good."

"I wouldn't know, you were my first." Doug whispered back a little bit disappointed that he was not her first.

(Doug POV) _Maybe Charming Jr was?_

"My first of many was on the Isle, but none of them were with someone that I felt as strongly about as I do you." Doug blushed in reaction to her words.

"Well, maybe we should do that again." Doug grabbed her waist and pulled her closer so that he could keep kissing her.

"I'd like that." She whispered against his lips before they started to have a first of many heated make out sessions.

Mal's POV

Mal rolled her eyes at the couple and decided to blow off steam rather than just run. She took off running over the trees and tried to knock them down with each punch and kick she gave as she ran. She only was able to knock down two before she twisted her ankle on the way down from a kick by landing in a ditch. The roots surrounding the ditch grabbed her ankle and snapped it so bad that the bones burst out the sides.

 _Even the trees hate me here._

She grimaced in pain and looked down to her ankle. Parts of the bones were caught in between the roots. She took the knife that she always kept hidden in her shoe out and proceeded to cut the roots so that she could untangle her ankle and bones from them. Once she was free, she hobbled over to the stream that surrounded the school.

 _Why am I always getting myself hurt?_

She washed her wound clean and pushed the bones back into her ankle.

 _This is going to take weeks to heal!_

Noticing that her wound was still bleeding, but not as bad, she decided to let her foot hang in the cool water while she waited for the pain to go down. She leaned back and watched the clouds pass her by. She thought back to her first date with Ben.

 _Had it all been a lie? He says that it was all real for him, but was it just an act to gain the people's favor? Was the favor for him or for us? The way he looked at me when he gave me the jacket after I almost drowned though! I remember him looking so intrigued by me. It was like he couldn't believe I was there. I remember him reaching for my hair and twisting it in his hands. I bet he's never seen anyone with purple hair before! And then wen his eyes reached mine, my whole body felt on fire then. There was this huge weight in my chest and this fluttering in my stomach. His stare was so… intense, kind of like it was today. I wanted to kiss him so badly then, but I couldn't. I never can. It's too dangerous._

She sighed, suddenly feeling very alone.

 _On the bright side, my ankle feels better._

She took her ankle out of the water and looked at it. The wound had closed up and it felt like her bones weren't fully fractured anymore. They may still be splintered though. Her ankle had swollen and was three different colors of black and purple. She stood up and tried to walk on it. Grimacing, she fell forward and landed wrongly on another root, popping a rib out of place.

 _Great, it is so not my day._

"WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU?" she screamed at the surrounding trees.

Testing her breath, she realized that it was only one rib, but she was going to need Jay's help later popping it back in place. She could manage for now. As for her ankle, she tested different ways to walk on it and decided the best way was to walk on her inside heel.

 _This is going to take me forever to get back! I can't even teleport back with my rib out of placed._

She glared at the trees, "This is all your fault." She turned to the school and slowly made her walk back. When the breathing got too much for her ribs, she placed her arm on them and pushed helping to ease the tension. She made it to the front door just in time to see the same limo from before leave for a second time.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey Guys! As promised, here is the chapter. As a reminder, I do not own any of the characters, Disney does. I only own the plot line. As a note, I added Jordan from Descendants Wicked World, but she may not be anything like the one in the TV show.

(Jay POV) **Flashback to Jay and Mal's conversation with other characters point of views**

Jay watched as Mal walked away from him. He was worried about her. Something seemed more off than normal with her. They were the Villain's kids, all rotten to the core. They all had something off with them and different ways of coping, none of which were healthy. They never liked to talk about with each other though.

Jay sighed and turned back to his room. If he was going to go to lunch with Audrey, he'd need to brush his hair or something. She was the highest of maintenance possible. Of course, she was a princess.

 _I'm going to have to show her the best lunch date of her life, maybe sneak some action in, maybe not. She is a princess after all. What am I doing, she isn't even my type! She's all snotty and fuzzy and hot. She's got spark though, I'll give her that._

Jay left his room and headed for Audrey's dorm room. On his way, he passed Evie and Mal's room. The door was closed but he could hear moaning coming from inside. Creaking the door open just a tiny bit, he noticed Evie and Doug making out on the bed. They were both busy and very in to it. They never noticed their friend peeking in the doorway.

Smirking at the obvious love between the two, he shut the door and continued down the hall to Jordan and Audrey's room where screaming could be heard from behind the door. Before Jay could even knock, the door flung open and golden brunette ran into him.

"What the hell do you want!" she screamed at the person who bumped her. Jay jumped back in surprise. "WELL!" she tapped her foot in impatience.

"Uhm, no, that's not how this is going to go" Jay grabbed her upper arm and dragged her out of the room. "Sorry Jordan. I'll have her back later."

"What! I'm not going any-" Jay kept pulling her away from the door leaving a smirking Jordan to shut the door.

"Yes, you are."

"Why should I go anywhere with you! Your nothing but a Villain and that's all you'l-"

"Hey Audrey."

"What!"

"Shut up." They glared at each other. To anyone watching, it would look like the two were currently in a power struggle which Jay won. He dragged her stomping her feet all the way to lobby.

"Oh would you just knock it off already."

"Fine" she grumbled and he let go of her arm and continued walking with Audrey following at his heels.

 _What the heel is wrong with this girl? Why is ever girl blowing up today? Is it that time of the month or something? She's so feisty when she's made._

He glanced over his shoulder back at the princess. She was still wearing workout clothes from cheerleading practice earlier. She had on the shortest shorts possible and only a sports bra, both were soaked in sweat that trickled down the top of her breast to the middle of her bra to her stomach. Her hair was wound tightly back in a ponytail with a few curls hanging around her face.

 _She must have just got back from practice. I caught her just before she showered then. She's hot though and feisty._

They both stomped all the way over to Jay's room that was currently empty. Carlos was busy spending time with his dog. Jay opened the door and gestured rather rudely to Audrey to come in. After she came in, he slammed the door shut out of anger causing her to look at him in annoyance. He was still so mad at her that he walked back in forth in front of the door.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" he yelled at her while continuing to pace.

"Me? You're the one who dragged me all the way here! Speaking of which," she slapped him across the face. He flinched but it wasn't the first time that he had been hit by a woman and he almost always deserved it. Her slap was one of the most powerful he'd gotten though.

 _Damn, what are they teaching these princesses._

He stopped walking and stepped forward.

"You yelled at me for just bumping in to you, I thought you changed. Hell, I was even going to ask you for a nice romantic lunch."

"You were?" She stepped forward timidly.

"But now, I don't know. What is wrong with you? You act more like a Villain than me!" He took more steps forward until he was inches from her.

"I ah" she grumbled. That last comment had hurt her. She didn't know what had overcome him to say that. She wasn't that bad, was she?

"I'm sorry, that wasn't what I meant." He grabbed her arms and pulled her into a hug.

"It was just a tough day at practice." He pulled back to give her a confused look.

"What?"

"That's what I was yelling about. We couldn't get this sequence and I was getting frustrated because everyone was exhausted from last night and it was just a bad practice."

"Oh," he pulled her back in for a hug, "now I feel even worse." He kissed the top of her head.

"I think you owe me a romantic lunch then." she smirked.

"Okay, but first." He tipped her head up and kissed her softly on the lips. It wasn't the first kiss, they had been stealing each other's kisses for a while now. "Better?" he smirked knowing all too well.

"Hmm, maybe one more," he smiled and gave her her wish. She pulled him back to the bed and they fell on top. His lips claimed hers and forced them open to push his tongue in. They began their quest for dominance that lasted seconds before he melted under her lips. He let her take control as he always did. He preferred his women in control, something that he hardly got on the Isle. He rolled her over so that he was on top. They continued their kisses while their hands explored each other's bodies above the clothes. When he could feel the kiss slowing down, he pulled back and crossed his arms under his head.

"How about now" he smirked.

"Better," she rolled off him as her stomach growled.

"How about that lunch now?" he laughed.

"Sounds perfect" She smiled at him.

Ben's POV **Flashback to when he left his room.**

 _My mom is going to kill which is just fantastic because then I can't show Mal how much I love her. I won't get to teach her how to love. The kingdom will have to vote for a new line of kings. I won't get to love Mal. I won't get to help the kids of the Isle. I won't get too…_

"Ben! My dear" Appearing before him in the lobby was his lovely mother. She was dressed in a yellow dressed as always that was just the right amount of conservative and not too flashy. She had her hair up in a bun as always, but was wearing a small gold tiara that was reserved for the Immediate Past Queen instead of the Queen's crown.

"Hi Mom." he answered while pulling her into a hug.

"Hi Sweetie! Are you ready for lunch?" he caught a flash of purple and knew Mal was walking back to her room. She looked sad, but she did not notice them. He was suddenly distracted from his mom when her scent caught him. He could tell that she was sad just by the way her scent came off her.

"Ben?" Belle placed her hand on his face bringing his attention back to her.

"Sorry," he shook his head, "yes, let's go." He steered her back to the doors.

"Are you sure? You seem distracted?" she asked with a knowing look.

"I'm fine mom, it's just been a long day."

"Oh, don't worry hunny, it will get easier as the time passes. There's just a lot to learn now."

"Thanks mom." He kissed her cheek as they made it to the limo, not seeing the purple half-faery in the forest edge.

"Besides, I have good news for you."

"Really?"

 _Oh dear, I hope they aren't thinking about building another castle for someone. They already spent a fortune building Anna's._

"You will just have to wait till after lunch to find out." She smiled a knowing smile.

"Seriously mom, just tell me."

"Where's the fun in that?" they laughed. They made small talk all the way to Tiana's Café and throughout lunch. The café was the best place to go for lunch and dinner if you were able to afford it. It was not that it was expensive, but that it was always booked. People like King Ben and Princess Audrey could get in every day. It was the people like Doug that had a hard time getting in.

At the end of lunch, Ben couldn't take it anymore. He had to know whose castle they were planning on building now.

"Mom."

"Hmph?"

"You have something important to tell me?"

"What? Oh Yes! Let's wait till after dessert." She sipped her tea.

"Mom, its lunch. There is no dessert."

"Oh alright," she threw up her hands, "I just don't want you to go beastly on me."

 _Great._

"What is it mom?"

"Well, it has to do with the children from the Isle."

Ben sat up suddenly alert, "Mom?"

"It's nothing bad, I promise, but I wanted to let you know that the Counsel of Kings and Queens has agreed to allow more Isle kids at the start of this new term." The Counsel of Kings and Queens was made up of the royals for each part of the country of Auradon. They were used to advise the King of the country on important matters and to make sure that every part of the country was run smoothly.

"What! How could they decide without me present?"

"Well Ben, take a breath and I will tell you. We don't need a new King Beast with a temper unmanaged."

"Right, sorry." She gave him a hard look.

"They needed to make a decision to give to you. It's their recommendation. It's up to you to decide what you want to do with their opinion."

"And if I don't think that Auradon is ready for more Villain Kids?"

"Ben, I think you should at least bring a few over?"

"What if it was too much though. We don't know what kind of troubles these kids have besides their parents."

"Ben, aren't you dating one of them?" she rolled her eyes.

"Yes, what does that have to do with it?"

"You should know her better than anyone!"

"I don't know if I do yet, I can certainly read her, at least, I think I can."

 _More like, I hope I can._

"Well, at least think about it."

"Did they at least decide who they would bring over?"

"Not exactly, their between 4 kids."

"Their parents?"

"The Queen of Hearts, Hans, Ursula, and Gaston."

"Really mom, Gaston? Who came up with that idea?"

"I did."

 _Why would she choose his child? She hates the man more than anyone else._

"Mom!"

"You gave Maleficent's daughter a chance, why not give Gaston's son?"

"Okay, I'll think about it, but I'm not sure about this term."

"Ben!"

"That's only one day to get everything ready and to prepare the kids that are already here. Did you even bother to think about what it might feel like for them? They may not want more kids here just yet."

"Okay Ben." She resigned to his opinion. As usual, he is right. The kids probably needed more time.

"Let's head back mom." She set her tea back down.

"You go ahead and go, I'm going to go back your father's castle."

"Okay." He kissed her on the cheek again and left the table with her. He started to get into the limo when her words caught him.

"Don't be a stranger Ben, you can come over anytime. You and all your friends." He blushed understanding that she meant Mal.

"Thanks mom." Ben got in the limo and watched his mother go to the flower shop before he signaled the driver to go back to the school. On the ride back, he pondered over whether or not he should allow more kids to come over.

 _On the one hand, they all chose good and are working on breaking any bad habits; however, they just went through a tough time with their parents and haven't even had the time to process this. Let alone Mal, she was a firecracker. A hot firecracker, but she was magical and most likely unstable right now. I'm really worried about her the most. She seems guarded, but I don't know! She's so hard to read! I wish she would just confide in me. I need to be patient though. Trust probably was not a big thing over there and from what I've heard, a good healthy relationship was not either._

Once they arrived back at the school, Ben thanked his driver and made his way back inside. He needed to go see Mal, but he didn't know where to look for her now. He made his way into the lobby and starred at the new seal that was being added to the wall.

Mal POV

 _Ouch! Damn that hurt!_

Mal had just stumbled into the main doors when she was trying to walk up the steps. Groaning she pushed the doors open to the lobby and leaned against the frame for a moment to catch her breath. Her stumble had just readjusted her rib to where it was pressing closer on her rib. She needed to readjust it back so that she could breathe again, but it was hard when she couldn't put all her weight on her hurt ankle yet. It had gotten better as she hobbled here, but her rib needed put back and fast.

"Mal?"

 _Damn_

Ben had noticed the bang from when Mal pushed the door open forcefully. He saw her lean against the door struggling to breathe and stand. She was dressed in black shorts and a long sleeve black running shirt. She was dressed as if she was training for the military. She was sweaty and hot but Ben was more focused on the way her breath hitched with every breath in and out and her limp as she stumbled to the door frame.

"Mal, what happened?" Concern in his voice. Suddenly he rushed to her side only to be pushed away by her arm immediately followed by a grimace.

 _I don't have time for this! Why is everything going wrong? Maybe being good isn't a good idea._

"I'm fine, I just tripped on a tree." He gave her a pointed look like he didn't believe her.

"Well, at least let me take you to the nurse." He made to grab her arm only to be pushed away again.

"I'm fine, I just need to see Jay"

(Ben POV) _Jay, why does she need Jay? Is there something I'm missing here?_

"Fine, but I'm going with you." he grumbled out with a low soft growl.

 _Did he just growl at me?_

"No" she limped over to the stairs. She was the hardest person to intimidate into submission.

 _There is no way he is coming. I can't deal with his flirty spoiled rich boy attitude right now or his over protectiveness. I don't care if he's the king. He can just go away!_

Her thoughts were interrupted when she was suddenly whisked off her feet to be held bridal style by Ben.

"I wasn't leaving it up for discussion." he told her in a menacing tone. She tried to squirm out of his hold only to be brought closer to him when he tightened his hold.

 _He's so warm and soft. This feels so nice. Stop it! Your mad at him, remember!_

"Put me down King Ben," she emphasized his whole name.

(Ben POV) _Why does she insist on calling me that?_

"No, you can't walk up the stairs." He started to walk up the stairs with her to prove his point.

(Ben POV) _If this is some weight thing that she thinks she has, I have Beast traits. Nonhuman strength and stamina being two of them. Plus, she's like, almost twig size and I've been training for tourney for years._

"Yes, I can" he gave her a hard look.

 _I don't want to test that theory though._

(Ben POV) _ya right_

"You just stumbled into a door after 2 steps."

"I'm not one of your petty princesses that needs a white knife in shining armor to come save her!"

"And me helping you doesn't mean that you do" breathing was starting to get harder for her in this cramped position.

"Can you at least hurt up than"

 _I can't breathe and I can feel my body panicking because I can't breathe and I need put down. Now!_

"Ya, sure" when they made it to the top of the steps, he did as asked and walked beside her in silence to Jays room. He could feel her anger and sadness at him and the hurt. It didn't take a genius or his nose to notice that something was wrong.

When they finally reached Jays room, Mal threw the door open, not even bothering to knock. Luckily, Jay and Audrey were only starting a make out session round 2, this time on the floor.

"Mal!" Jay looked up startled. Ben watched as Jays face turned from anger to surprise and then to concern in seconds. Audrey never noticed any of it before it became a mask of boredom.

"What do you want?" Jay answered suddenly calmer.

"Can't breath" Mal answered winded. Ben's eyes shot to the girl beside him, his girl was starting to get blue. They needed to fix this and now before it's too late.

Jay was taking his time so she added, "hurry Jay!" Jay could hear the plea in her voice and was at her side in a second, dragging her over to the desk.

"Shut the door." He directed towards Ben who did as he was told without questions for once.

"What's going on here?" Audrey asked. Jay started to feel Mal's ribs for the one out of place to no avail.

"This has to go" he tugged at Mal's shirt. She tried to lift her arms to take it off when she grimaced. Jay and Ben's eyes turned to concern and worry only this time neither of them bothered to hide it.

Jay realized the amount of pain she was in when he caught a flash of the bruise covering her dislocated bone. He thought he saw black and ripped the back of her shirt open revealing a purple sports bra and a big black bruise surrounding the dislocated bone. Mal noticed it in the mirror

 _Crap, this needs fixed now! I cut it too close. I only have seconds_

"What? What happened?" Audrey asked timidly. The bruise looked awful to everyone that didn't know that the black wasn't blood. Ben turned to get a better look when he shouted, "she needs to go to the nurse now!"

"No, she doesn't." Jay answered.

"Yes she does!"

"She doesn't have the time!" The boys were face to face screaming at each other.

"What are you talking about?" Ben asked dumfounded.

"JAY!" Mal had nearly passed out from the energy it took to shout that. This broke the fight though and Jay rushed over to her, placed his hand on the outside of the rib and his other he wrapped around her as if he was pulling her in for a hug.

"Deep breath" she breathed in "on 3, 1... 2... 3!" On 3 he pushed and snapped the bone back in place and was relived to feel Mal's frantic breathes as her lungs were suddenly filled with oxygen. She limped over to the desk chair and sat down, lying her head back to breath.

 _Oh man, that was way too close. I can breath!_

After a few moments, she felt ice on her forehead and opened her eyes to see Ben wiping her face with a cool towel.

"You okay?" He asked full of concern for her.

"Fine" she closed her eyes again and let him cool her down.

 _Mmm, that feels nice._

"So, do you want to tell me why I had to pop your rib back in place?" Jay asked. Mal looked up after Audrey's gasp of surprise.

"I landed wrong on a tree root." Jay accepted this response and let his eyes scan her body, searching for more wounds that may or may not have already healed. Ben let a small growl lose when he noticed this.

Jay smirked at Ben and grabbed Audrey's hand, kissing the back of her knuckles till Ben relaxed.

(Jay POV) _He really needs to learn that none of us Villain kids are going to go after Mal, we all have someone special. He's a fool if he thinks she'd even consider us._

After seeing that his best friend's boyfriend wasn't going to kill him for checking out his girl, he looked down at her feet and noticed the swollen ankle.

"And, what about your ankle" he pointed out.

"Same tree root." Jay's eyes narrowed. She almost never landed that wrong.

"Explain" she only glared at him in response. She didn't want to have this discussion with Ben and Audrey around, Jay did though.

 _I am not having this conversation here. They won't understand._

"Now Mal" he threatened.

"I landed in a ditch and my ankle got caught. The roots snapped my ankle and I landed on my rib popping it out of place." she sighed. Ben was full of concern for his girlfriend, but had no idea what to do. Jay seemed to think for a moment before adding, "show me."

Mal grimaced before raising her leg on top of the desk and taking off her shoe. What was once a broken ankle was now an old green and yellow bruise. Mal starred at it in disbelief.

 _I've never healed that fast before._

"What was it like when it first happened?" Jay asked examining it. It looked like it was a few hours old for her, weeks for anyone else.

(Jay POV) _Why is she just coming to me now?_

Mal sighed, "I snapped all the bones in half and they went through my skin" she mumbled so that only Jay could hear. He lost himself in his thoughts.

(Jay POV) _How is this possible?_

Unfortunately, the other two people in the room wanted to know also.

"What?" Ben asked so Mal repeated herself louder this time.

"That isn't possible!" Audrey added.

"Jay," Mal called, forcing him to focus, "this," she gestured to her leg, "only happened 30 minutes ago." At that revelation Jay's eyes shot to her bruise on her side. It was just a faint yellow now. It looked as if he had just put it back hours ago.

(Jay POV) _She never healed that fast before. How?_

"What?" Ben asked dumbfounded. "There's no way! You must've hit your head." He came to her side and checked to see if she had any bumps. Annoyed, Mal swatted his hand away.

 _This is why I didn't want to have this conversation in front of them._

"No, I didn't" she stood up and crossed the room to Jay without a limp or a flinch. Ben dropped his mouth when he noticed Mal's bruise was completely gone on her side and the way she walked.

"How?" Audrey screamed out, frustrated that no one was paying attention to her. Neither Mal nor Jay answered or looked at her. It was as if they were having a private mental conversation. No one noticed the King's anger at his girlfriend coming to someone else instead of him.


	5. Chapter 5

Bens POV

Ben had noticed the whole interaction. Mal didn't want to tell Jay what had happened with them present. While it was impossible for her to heal like that, it wasn't unheard of. Fairy Godmother for instance, didn't get hurt that often and Ben himself did heal quickly but Ben had never seen anyone heal that quickly before.

 _See mom! This is why I don't want new kids here yet. We hardly know the kids here!_

Ben's eyes scanned Mal for any more signs of injuries. What he noticed was the way the sweat ran down her back and the tight shorts that covered just barely enough for him to be okay with her in public like that instead. Her long pale legs were completely toned and the muscles in her back told a story of stress. The little silver scars that decorated her skin made Ben's heart fall. What was once arousing was suddenly concerning. He had never seen those scars before? Granted, this was the first time he saw her bare back.

 _Where did she get those scars? They aren't anywhere that she could reach? And they look too patterned to be from an accident._

"Everyone out," he called out in his King voice. It was a voice that left nothing to question.

"But-" Audrey started.

"Now." His tone got everyone moving out the door.

"It's my room man." Jay pressed frightened by Bens tone.

 _Damn._

"Fine" Ben stepped forward and grabbed Mal's arm, dragging her out the door and across the hall to his room. Jay's shouts for Ben to stop were cut off by the door slamming shut.

"What the hell Ben?" Mal asked after being dragged and thrown roughly on the bed. Ben paced back and forth, sending glares Mal's way every time she tried to stand up.

Mal POV- _Fine, I'll just stay here till he cools off then._

After several minutes of silence, Mal was getting worried.

"Ben? She called out timidly. Ben took a long drag of her smell.

 _She's scared, well, more nervous right now and hurt. Am I the one scaring her?_

He turned to look at the girl on his bed. There was a faint bruise on her arm where he grabbed her. Ben stepped forward and lightly touched the light purple bruise.

"Did I do that?" Mal looked down confused. She hadn't felt him grab her that hard.

"It's nothing" she shrugged her arm out from under his hand. He looked at her, guilt for hurting her filling his eyes but she wouldn't look at him. He dropped to his knees in front of her and gently lifted her head with his fingers under her chin.

"Are you okay?" Asking about more than just the bruise. They both knew now that she would heel fast and not to worry about it.

"I will be." She answered knowing full well what he meant. She just didn't have the heart to lie and say she was. The half-truth would have to do. After all, she never said it would be soon.

"Mal, please don't hesitate to come to me about anything." He looked deep into her eyes in hopes of making his point.

 _She's so beautiful. Her green eyes shining back at mine. I want to kiss her, no, I have to kiss her. No, that's still not right. I need to kiss her. That's right. She looks so sad and I just want her to talk to me and open up. Doesn't she realize that she's not on the Isle any more. She's not going back. Ever._

"Is that an order King Ben" she emphasized his name again.

"Stop it. You are the only one in this world who should never ever call me that no matter how mad we get at each other!"

She nodded in response not sure what to say.

"It's not that simple...Ben." she answered his original statement hesitating at his name and turned away from him breaking the connection.

 _Maybe you can't take the Isle out of these kids. Why did they have to punish the kids too!_

"So, you're a fast healer?" Ben asked trying to lighten the mood. He stood up and made his way over to pillar of his canopy bed. His eyes scanning the room. He was one of the fortunate students to have his own room. Perks of being rich or the king. Which he was both. He had a huge king canopy bed in the corner of the room with his own fireplace and couch set. Next to the fireplace was a balcony that wrapped around two sides of his room with a view of the forest on one side and the city on the other. He had a round 4 person dining table for guests and 2 huge bookshelves on either side of a large wooden desk filled with his school books and any books he'd need to be King. On top of the desk was a state of the art 3 screen computer and sound system. On the other side of his bed was the largest flat screen TV and every game imaginable along with 2 beanbag chairs and Ben's personal favorite, the full body massaging TV chair. It was black leather and rocked back and forth and even stayed in a backward position for massages or intense game play. In the corner was the door to his personal bathroom which housed a gold toilet (it was his father's idea of a joke), a Jacuzzi bathtub made for three people to fit in, a shower that had water spouts all over the walls in every direction and a walk in closet with all his suits. He also had his own set of weights in his room.

"Ya" Mal shrugged. It was no big deal to her.

"Have you always been that way?" Ben asked curious.

"Yes, but not as fast."

"What do you mean?" he asked confused.

"I used to take a few days to heal a broken bone. Since I came here, it apparently only takes a few minutes," Mal sighed.

"That's, unusual." He wasn't sure what to say to that.

Mal looked up offended.

"It's just that fast healing is something only those with strong light magic like Fairy Godmother can do or certain magical beings like dad and me."

"You can heal fast?" Mal's eyes softened to curiosity.

"Well, ya, my dad was a beast Mal. I sorta inherited a few traits of his," he shrugged.

"Oh" Mal looked away. Ben went and sat by her grabbing her hand and startling her.

 _I really don't want to ask this because I don't want to know the answer._

"So, which are you?"

"Neither? Just really dark magic probably and my mom was a Faery."

"I doubt that's the only reason." She only shrugged in response.

Realizing she wouldn't answer, he pressed on to more important topics.

 _Oh light magic help me._

"Why didn't the scars on your back heal?" Every single fiber of Mal's being stiffened. She was not expecting that question. She'd forgotten that she had to take off her shirt in Jay's room and now she had no shirt.

"I don't know what you're talking about" she moved to get up and away from Ben but he grabbed her hand and pulled her back down.

"Mal, I saw them. I'm not asking what their from." _Right now_ "I just want to know why they didn't heal all the way."

"I don't know" _liar_

"Mal," he turned her face towards his again. "Why can't you trust me?"

"Ben," she tried to look away but he wouldn't let her.

"Mal, I understand that trust is hard. Really I do. But I love you Mal. Part of what love is, is trusting the one you love with all your secrets even the ones that no one else knows. I'm not asking you to come out and tell me everything, I'm only asking you to try and tell me some now."

Mal nodded taken back by his words. He did promise to teach her about love but she still wasn't sure.

"Part of what love is, is also not telling anyone the secrets that the one you love tells you without their permission" he added looking deep into her eyes. He tried to open himself up to her gaze. He could tell that she was still apprehensive though.

"Did you tell that to your lunch date too?"

He laughed.

Mal POV- _I can't believe it! He's laughing at me. Actually laughing. What a_ -

"You mean my mom?" Humor in his eyes.

"What? Oh, oh! That explains the yellow dress" he burst into laughter at that.

"Mal, no one else in the entire kingdom wears yellow like she does" his smile lighting up his eyes. "Is that what's got you upset at me?"

She shrugged in response looking away out of guilt.

"Mal, there's no one else but you and there never will be. I love you. Villain tendencies and all." She laughed at him.

They stared into each other eyes slowly growing closer together. They were having a moment.

 _A moment! A moment! I might get to finally kiss those plump lips of hers and then I'll and cue the panic. Well that's just fantastic._

Just as Ben had thought, Mal turned away lost in her thoughts while the mood died down. To say that Ben was disappointed was an understatement but he covered it up before Mal could notice.

"It was from a cursed blade" she whispered.

"What?"

"There are some people on the Isle that know of a spell that can be carved on to a blade. The cuts made from this blade take the same amount of time to heal as they would do to anyone else, but they also leave behind scars."

"Who?"

"It doesn't matter. I'm never seeing them again anyway."

 _Damn right you aren't. Never again._

"When?"

"A long time ago" Ben stopped pressing for now noticing the vague answers. This was enough to satisfy him for now. He dropped his arm across her shoulders and pulled her close. He inhaled her scent happy to notice her anger was all but dissipated, her sadness was still there and her hurt was mostly gone.

 _It might be some time before she realizes that she is the only one that I'll ever love._

He shifted her back so that they were laying partly on the bed. Their feet were still dangling off the end. Ben was on his back with Mal curled into his side, her head resting on her shoulder with one of his hands holding her shoulder and the other playing with her hair. She didn't realize how little sleep she had actually gotten out in the woods. She was exhausted!

"Ben?"

"Hmm"

"Can you keep watch?" She asked already half asleep that she wasn't sure what she was asking.

"Sure?" He turned to look down at his girlfriend. He watched her face as she let her guard drop for the first time ever with him. Her whole body relaxed and her face went from its normal badass Mal to sadness. Ben hugged her closer when he smelled the amount of sadness she felt. It nearly broke his heart and he felt tears come to his eyes. She was fast asleep though. He kissed the top of her head and held her as close as possible.

 _This is progress though. She dropped her guard and is asleep._

He ran his hand down the side of her face.

 _If only she'd let me in and tell me why she feels this way._

He sighed and rested his head on hers. He stayed awake though, just as he promised.

Audrey POV

Jay watched as Ben dragged Mal in surprise. She wasn't even fighting him and didn't seem to mind how he was handling her. If he didn't know any better, he would say that she was actually enjoying it a little.

"What, the hell, was that all about?" Audrey demanded of him.

Jay POV- _What's got her panties in a bundle?_

"I don't know what you mean?"

"Seriously? You're going to play dumb with me?" She crossed her arms and tapped her foot waiting. Jay, realizing she was upset with him, walked over and kissed her cheek lightly.

"She's just a friend." Audrey gave him a pointed look. "I've known her my entire life Audrey. We don't have that type of relationship."

 _You do have some type of relationship and I want to know what._

"Then what type of relationship do you have." She demanded walking away from him. She needed to keep a level head to get this information and it was not easy next to him. He awakened something in her that Ben had only tapped.

"Audrey," Jay pleaded and stepped towards her.

"Jay," she stepped backwards away from him.

"Why do you want to know?" He asked concerned for his friend's well-being and stepped toward her again.

"Because I like information," she turned her nose up at him and stepped backward running into the wall behind her. Jay smirked and stepped forward, pressing their bodies against each other and the wall. He placed one arm beside her waist and the other beside her head.

Leaning down he whispered in her ear seductively, "and what do you plan on doing with this information?" He ran his nose down her neck slowly. She grinded her hips up towards his unwillingly and groaned.

"Nothing" she answered huskily.

Jay pulled away and smirked, "right" he walked away from her leaving her breathless against the door.

"Jay, I really do want to know and I promise not to do anything bad with it okay?"

Jay looked at her bewildered but he quickly recovered.

Jay POV- _Should I trust her?_

"I hate to break it to you, but bad doesn't look good on you sweetheart." He answered sarcastically.

She rolled her eyes at him and walked away from the wall.

"Are you going to tell me?"

"Are you going to blab to everyone you can?"

"No" she answered truthfully and defiantly.

 _Who is he to judge me? He's probably done worse things than me!_

He seemed to think about it for a while before answering, "Why do you really want to know?"

"Because it was weird, okay? You two were all talky with your eyes and it looked like something was going on between you two or-"

"Audrey"

"-maybe something happened in the past and you two-"

"Audrey!"

"-weren't over it and I don't like it because I like you. A lot actually and you make me feel more then Ben ever did and I just really want this to work and if you don't that's okay but Mal is with Ben and good luck breaking those two apart because that would take too much effort for me to try and-"

"AUDREY!"

"What?"

"First of all, stop rambling." She shut her mouth and he starred at her waiting for it to dawn on her how much she said.

 _Oh no! Did I just say all that stuff out loud? His face says I did. Crap!_

When it finally did causing her hand to fly up to her mouth in horror, he continued, "second, Mal and I have never been and never will be a thing. She's like a sister to me." Audrey relaxed at that.

"Third," he walked towards her and grabbed her shoulders, "I like you a lot too and also," he smirked at her smiling face, "nobody is ever going to break up King Ben and Mal."

"Really?"

"Yes really to all of the above."

"Okay" she smiled with happiness and initiated a hug that Jay surprisingly responded by giving one back to her.

"I'll tell you everything on one condition."

"Okay?" She pulled away and looked at him puzzled.

"You don't utter a word to Mal about any of this."

"Why?"

"Because she will kill you." Audrey's eyes opened wide in fright. The way Jay said those words put fear into her heart.

"Don't get me wrong, she will know that you know but if you treat her differently or say anything to her, well, let's just say that it won't be pleasant."

"How will she know I know?"

"She's Mal. She knows a lot more then people give her credit for." Jay smirked.

Jay POV- _It really was amazing how intuitive Mal really was. Sometimes I swear she can hear our thoughts and see the future._

"Okay," Audrey uttered after thinking it over.

 _This might be hard. I'll probably look at her different. Maybe. I still don't like her for stealing my boyfriend, but I got a better one instead._

She smiled at that. Jay looked at her calculating what the smile was for before he decided to continue.

"So, what do you want to know?"

"Wait, you're really going to tell me?"

"I'm supposed to be 'good,' remember, so trust is big in a 'good' relationship supposedly."

Audrey laughed,"ya, ya it is."

This is going to be an interesting relationship.

"So, tell me about her super healing." She joked.

"It started when she was young. She's always been a quick healer, sometimes quicker then humanly possible. Back on the Isle, it got faster as she got older. She could break an arm and wouldn't even have a scar or bruise from it within two weeks."

"So kind of like Ben?"

"What?" He asked dumbfounded.

"Ben is the son of a beast." Jay still didn't understand after all, his dad wasn't a beast when Ben was born. Was he? "Ben's dad still has some Beast qualities left from residual magic. They transferred to Ben when he was born. I guess you could say it's in his blood."

"Oh, that explains a lot" Jay numbered in fascination. He finally understood why Ben didn't bruise so easily in tourney practice.

Audrey rolled her eyes, "anyway, so it comes from Mal's mom since she's half Faery?"

"Yes and no." Now it was Audrey's time to be confused.

"That's what we thought on the Isle, but now I'm not so sure."

"Why?"

"Because she's never healed in a few minutes before."

"It was at least an hour and a half for her broken bones!"

"Yes, but her rib? It was healed in 3 minutes after I reset it." Audrey's eyes widened.

"So what does that mean?"

"Maleficent never healed that fast, ever."

"No one has."

"What?"

"Jay, even Fairy Godmother hasn't healed that fast before." Jay's eyes widened.

"Wait! What about the scars on her back?" Jay sighed, he was hoping the Audrey hadn't noticed those.

"They were from a cursed blade. Certain people on the Isle know a spell that can cause the wound from the blade to not heal as fast and to leave a permanent scar."

"Oh" Audrey's heart sank.

 _What did these kids go through? I knew the Isle was bad but their children! What kind of vile person does that to someone!_

"Who?" She asked.

Jay POV _\- I probably shouldn't tell her this, but..._

"Hans and Maleficent."

"What?"

"Maleficent knows because it affects her too. She never used the blade against Mal though, she did against others. No one knows how or why Hans knows, just that he does."

"So Hans did that to her?" She asked feeling a wave of pity for Mal.

 _That monster!_

"No"

"What?"

 _Now, I'm really confused._

"Hans's son."

 _What, no way!_

Audrey stood their open mouthed.

"It's a long story that even I don't know the details to, just that Hans's son and Mal don't get along." Jay sat on the bed defeated. No one knew that it was Hans's son except him, Mal, Hans's son, and now Audrey. He hoped he didn't make a huge mistake telling her.

"How?"

"He's not a good kid at all. He's too much like his father. Worse than his father even."

"Is, is she okay? I mean the scars look bad." Audrey looked at him hopeful.

 _I really do hope that she is okay, for Ben's sake._

Jay looked at her, not sure how to respond. Audrey noticed his look.

"I'm not going to talk about it without you. I'm not a completely heartless person. No matter my issues with Mal, she doesn't deserve that."

Jay POV- _Great, she's going to hate me for what I've done._

"No, she isn't okay like she leads everyone to believe" Jay whispered.

"How does she cope?"

"She doesn't."

"She has to do something to help."

"Ya, well it's not helping. It's just masking it!" He answered angrily.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you mad."

"It's fine," he sighed, "hey, maybe you can watch her when I'm not around?"

"Sure, but I need to know what to look for."

"She.. she cuts." He looked away to hide his guilt.

"She cuts herself?"

"Yes," he thought for a moment, "no."

"Well, which is it Jay?"

"She doesn't cut herself."

"I don't understand."

"She has someone cut her for her."

"Okay... Who?"

Jay POV- _Can I trust her? Well, it's time to find out._

"Me" he whispered barely loud enough for Audrey to hear. Her mouth dropped open.

"You? You cut her?" She stepped back in horror.

"No! Not anymore." He reached out to her.

"I don't understand," she let his hand graze hers but she couldn't hide the repulsion. Jay dropped his hand in reaction, sadness filling his eyes.

"It was our coping mechanism on the isle. I liked hurting people, she liked pain, she let me cut her and we both coped. But, we only did it once since we've been here." He explained looking away from her.

 _How? How are these kids okay? Is this what the Isle causes? Their just kids! We're all just kids! We should be fighting over boyfriends and dressing up, not this!_

"When?" Jay looked up, surprised to see concern in her eyes. Concern for all of their well-being.

"Last night."

"Why?"

"Mal's mother probably. I'm not really sure."

"You cut her and you're not sure why?" She accused.

"It's not like that. Mal asked me to. I told her I didn't want to do this anymore, but she needed it so I did one time and then I told her never again." Jay's voice cracked when he felt for his sister. She was more broken inside then even he knew. "That's the thing with her though, I might have found better ways to cope, I have tourney now and it helps, but I don't think she knows how to cope in a good way." He let one single tear fall and felt Audrey's hand on his shoulder giving him reassurance. "We've been best friends since we were little, I know her better than anyone else, and I just don't know what she is going to do to cope. I'm worried. Her magic is strong and she could lose herself in it."

Audrey sat down beside him and grabbed his hand.

"What do you mean?"

"She isn't just Maleficent's daughter Audrey, she's also-"

Carlos came bursting in the door with Dude at the worst time screaming "Hey guys!" cheerfully at the couple on the bed. He quickly noticed their mood though and turned and walked back to the bathroom. Jay had looked sad and that was not something any of the Isle kids every talked to each other about and Audrey was livid with Carlos for interrupting. When Carlos came back, he sat on the sofa and asked, "Anybody up for a round?"

Jay had pulled himself together and looked better by then and answered, "sure man." In need of friend time. Audrey seemed to understand and peeked him on the cheek before leaving to go shower. She needed time to process all this information and the best place for her to do that was the shower. She made her promise though and intended to keep everything she knew to herself, but she was curious as to what Jay was going to say. She needed to do some research, or at least employ someone to do research for her under false pretenses.

 _Maybe Doug! I'll tell him I'm just curious about everyone! That'll work! I'll have him look into their background!_


	6. Chapter 6

Hey Guys! Sorry it took me so long to update. It's been a busy week. I'll try to update in the next couple of days though!

Mal's dream-

 _Where am I?_

Mal found herself standing in the middle of a black abyss. She couldn't see anything around her or feel anything besides the temperature. It was so cold that she should've been able to see her breath if she could see. She didn't even feel her feet touching the ground, if there was a ground. Everything was pitch black and very quiet. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck begin to stand.

"Hello?" She tried to call out but the voice was not her own. The voice sounded as if it was cut off from air supply and was weak and broken. Mal felt her own throat constrict in panic but felt around for whatever was constricting her throat. She couldn't find anything, she couldn't even find her throat.

 _What is this place?_

She stopped trying to speak and felt the pressure on her throat lessen.

 _So, no talking I guess._

She started to see a light in the distance. It was coming closer to where she was.

 _Maybe I'm floating towards it? If I am floating._

She found her mind floating in between a black abyss and a white abyss. She didn't know which way to go at her crossroads. When she tried to focus on the black abyss, her throat constricted and she couldn't breathe. When she tried to focus on the white abyss, she felt every bone in her body shatter.

 _I guess I'm staying here. In the center, where it's at least somewhat peaceful._

But it wasn't peaceful anymore, she felt herself being pulled into both abysses until it felt like she was being pulled apart.

 _Stop it! This hurts! Let me go!_

Whatever force that was pulling her was getting stronger and more frantic. Claw marks riddled her arms and legs from the invisible force pulling her.

 _It hurts! Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop! Please!_

Mal heard screaming before she felt her throat constrict, realizing they were her screams.

 _Please let me go! Help! I have to get out of here. Someone! Where am I? Anyone! Help!_

Tears rushed to her eyes, but they refused to fall. Mal had only cried twice before and it was not from pain either time. She refused to cry again. Mal felt herself continue to scream in agony even as her mind lost consciousness from the pain. The last thing Mal remembered was something snapping inside of her. There was no more pain, no more tug of war, and no more white abyss. Mal found herself back at the start of the dream with no recollection of the first dream.

Doug POV-

Evie was lying beside him in the grass of the tourney field looking up at the stars. She kept pointing out the ones she thought were the brightest and trying to form her own images in the sky. Doug was looking at her instead of the sky.

 _She's so beautiful. How did I get so lucky?_

"Did you know that stars are just great big balls of fire?" Evie asked Doug, turning her head to see him already starring at her with wonder in her eyes.

"Well, of course! Everyone knows that." He smirked at her.

"Everyone except Timon and Pumbaa." Evie replied sending them both into fits of laughter. Evie had to roll over onto her stomach to stop the laughter.

"Does Auradon always have night skies like these?" Evie asked in amazement at the sky.

"Most of the time. Sometimes it does get cloudy though." Doug looked away and back up to the sky. "Did you not have stars on the Isle?"

"Not really, every once and a while you could see a bright star or two, but most of the time the barrier kept it constantly cloudy."

"This barrier seems to do more than just keep magic from being used inside the barrier."

"It also keeps people in it."

"How?" Doug asked curious.

"If you touched it, you died" Evie shrugged. It wasn't anything new to her. She grew up with the barrier, Doug didn't. Everyone on the Isle knew better then to go near the barrier, accidents happen. Doug rolled onto his side closest to her and starred open mouthed.

"Close your mouth you dwarf, it's unbecoming of a prince," she scolded him.

"I'm not a prince Evie," he cocked his head to the side.

 _I've never been called that in my life._

"You have the kind heart of one so therefore you are one in my eyes." They both blushed and looked away from each other.

"Tha… tha… thank yo… you" Doug stuttered out. He always got nervous when Evie flirted with him.

"So," he pushed his glasses up his nose, "how does the barrier kill people?"

"Well, it's a force field barrier, if anyone got too close and touched it then it would most likely kill you silly. It really wasn't that fun to watch. It kind of turned a person inside out."

"You've seen this happen?"

"There was some order on the Isle. A hierarchy of the worst villains and the best which Maleficent mostly ran. If anyone did something that upset her she sorta pushed them against the barrier and then it was blood everywhere and gore and screams and-"

"I think I'm going to be sick" Doug turned away and tried to think of anything but blood. He really was not a violent person and preferred the bodily organs to stay inside the body, where they belonged, unless it was for science.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I guess it can be kind of gross for someone that didn't grow up with it."

"It's fine," he gulped, "I'm fine. So it most likely killed people?"

"My guess, is that it was built to keep villains inside."

"Obviously," Doug smirked.

"And," she emphasized rolling her eyes, "it needed to be strong enough to stop those that can wield magic from doing so."

"Evie, we all know this."

"Well, those that have magic, still have it on the Isle. They just can't use it." Doug debated this in his head.

 _It does explain Mal's gifts._

"Go on."

"Thank you," she smiled at him sending butterflies to his stomach. "Those with magic are still going to have magic to protect them from being killed by the barrier."

"So, what your saying is that people like Mal and Maleficent would not be killed by the barrier and people like Carlos and Cruella would?"

"Correct," she beamed.

"Have you proven this hypothesis before?"

"Yes, actually" Doug looked back in horror, "it wasn't like that silly. Mal accidentally fell onto the barrier when we were kids. She didn't get harmed, but supposedly it hurt. Others have died from it so we mostly stayed away." Evie turned away lost in her memories of having to watch those kids that got to close die.

Doug relaxed but he still wasn't okay with this story of Evie's life on the Isle.

 _It's horrific and inhuman over there. How can the counsel allow this?_

Evie was unnaturally silent and seemed off in her own little world. Wanting to bring her back into his, Doug leaned over and kissed her cheek. Evie jumped in response but turned her head and met a smiling Doug.

"You aren't going back there ever again." He brushed the hair from her face. "I promise."

"Thank you" Evie grabbed his hand and held it to her cheek. "But you don't really have a say. That's the Kings job." Evie kissed his palm.

"Do you really think Ben would have the heart to send his best friend's love back? Or even his love's best friends? Or what about his own girlfriend?" Doug smirked at her knowing the answer.

"I guess you're right," she sighed.

"I am always right."

"Nerd" she joked as she pushed him away laughing. "We should get back before curfew."

"You never know what kind of punishment you are in for if you are caught after curfew. I don't want to be expelled." Doug sighed and stood up. He held out his hand which Evie gladly took to stand up. She dusted off her dress and they walked back in silence holding hands. Neither really knowing what to say, just knowing that they wanted to stay together. Talking about the Isle had put them in a depressed mood.

They reached Evie's room too quickly and it was time to say goodbye. Evie could tell that the lights were off in her room so she tried to be quiet when she opened the door so as to not wake up Mal.

"Goodnight Doug" she kissed his cheek and made to go into her room.

 _That's not enough!_

Doug grabbed her face spinning her towards him and smashed his lips against hers. He pulled her in close to him and deepened the kiss. Tilting her head back, he plunged his tongue into her mouth and they began fighting for dominance of the kiss.

Too soon for both of them, the kiss ended leaving them breathless. Doug kissed her cheek and let her go inside. The room was empty when Evie opened it all the way and she made quick note that her roommate and best friend Mal were not there.

"Hey Doug?"

"Yes Evie" he asked puzzled. He liked to make sure that his friends were safe in their room before leaving.

"Can you check with Ben to see if Mal is there? She hasn't been back yet since this morning it looks like." Worry creeping into her voice.

"Sure, good night Evie."

"Night" Evie closed the door to begin her nightly ritual, letting Doug know she was safe by those actions. He turned to go back to his room when he was suddenly grabbed and forced into a dark room. He had missed the girl watching his interaction with his girlfriend. He heard a door shut before lights were flickered on and his kidnapper made herself known.

Bens POV

Ben woke to a stirring Mal. He had fallen asleep for a few hours watching Mal sleep. It was not that watching Mal was boring, it was that she looked so peaceful and comfortable in his arms that he just fell asleep. He felt bad about it because he was supposed to be keeping watch for her. He felt Mal move again and he opened his eyes, resolving to quit fighting his mind and just wake up.

Mal had a look of pain on her face and at first Ben thought she was uncomfortable, but after closer inspection, he realized that she was having a bad dream. Ben shuffled out from underneath her and set her on the bed.

 _She's so beautiful. How does she not realize how much I love her? Her perfect all her imperfections are? She's so strong._

He brushed the purple hair that was covering her face and saw her features relax a little bit. She no longer looked like she was having bad dream, but she did look uncomfortable. Ben leaned down and picked her up bridal style like he did on the stairs earlier. This time she didn't fight him and rested her head unknowingly against the crook of his neck.

 _She smells amazing. My sweet beautiful faery. I wish I could just kiss her now, but I can't betray her trust like that._

Ben laid her down in the middle of the bed with her head resting on his pillow.

 _I'm never going to get her scent out of my pillow now, not that that is a bad thing or anything._

He turned to his sofa and grabbed a throw to lay across her cold skin. He had the blanket covering her legs and was going to cover her waist when he noticed the scars again. Letting the blanket drop out of his hands, he sat beside her and ran his fingers over the raised flesh.

 _Each one of these scars is from a cursed blade. Who would do this to someone? What kind of person finds pleasure in permanently scaring someone? What kind of person cuts someone else? I swear I'll find out who did this to you Mal and I will personally make sure that no one ever harms you again._

He uttered a low growl in defiance against the person who hurt his girlfriend. He lifted the blanket up to her shoulders and leaned down to kiss her head.

 _If this is the only place that I can kiss her then I will do it every single damn chance that I get._

Leaving her to her dream, he left her side to go order dinner. They had missed dinner in the dining hall, but because he was King he could order food to his room whenever he wanted to. It wasn't just because he was King though, it was also because he was extremely nice to everyone that worked for him. Picking up the phone, he made his order.

"Hey Chip"

"Yes Sir," came the voice on the other end. Chip was a few years older than Ben, but was his personal assistant. Chip and his mother had helped raise Ben when Belle and Adam were off doing their royal duties. Ben couldn't think of anyone better to be his personal assistant. Chip was always attuned to everyone's problems and was very understanding. He made more of an advisor then a personal assistant.

"Can you have dinner sent to my room please for two?"

"Yes Sir! Is there anything else you need?"

"Can you also bring up a cup of coffee and the bills that were dropped off for me?"

"Right away Sir."

"Oh! Before I forget, can you make sure there are some fresh strawberries as well?"

"I'll be right up with it all sir," he chuckled. Chip knew about Ben's feelings for Mal and who the strawberries were for. Despite what the Council was saying to Ben, Chip enjoyed the two of them together. He thought that they brought the best out in each other and would bring the best out of the kingdom.

Ben smiled to himself and hung up the phone, noticing Mal stirring again he made his way back over to her to sit on the bed and watched her sleep. She looked like she was struggling with something. Ben took the tip of his finger and dragged it from her forehead down to the tip of her nose all the while watching as the tension drained from her face and was replaced with peace.

 _I hate this. I want to stop whatever worrying her. This is so frustrating! Why can't she let me in?_

Ben let out a strangled breath when his eyes dropped to her plump lips. Ben felt the tip of his finger glide past her nose and down the center of her soft lip. His finger landed on her bottom lip causing her lips to part just enough for the tip of his finger to feel the warmth her lips could give him. He started to tremble from the ecstasy of the feeling.

 _I want her lips on mine. I need them. Oh gods I'm losing control, I can't hold it back much longer. I have to feel her lips, I have to!_

Ben felt his face inching closer to hers in pursuit of her lips.

 _Ben stop, stop it right now! This relationship is too fragile to do this! You can't betray her trust! Stop!_

But it was like yelling to a brick wall. His body wasn't listening at all to his mind. He only knew that he needed to kiss her and soon.

Ben was broken out of the trance of Mal's lips by the sound of knocking at his main door. He lifted his finger from Mals's lips and tried to control his breathing. Knowing who was at the door, he only called out to his friend instead of getting up to answer the door.

"Come in."

The door opened to reveal a tall lean brunette man that was long everywhere in his body. He was once a very small child but grew so much in such a small amount of time that his name became more of a joke than anything else. He was pushing a cart with two trays covered in silver tops and a bowl of fresh strawberries. There was also a pot of coffee and two mugs, one of which was already poured with milk and sugar. Beside the food was a stack of papers that Ben needed to look over and either sign or reject.

Sighing, Ben left his girlfriend's side and made his way to his desk to begin his never ending work as King.

"Just set it over here for now Chip," he gestured to the top of his desk that was already overflowing with stakes of papers. There was a small amount that he had already signed, a large amount that he had rejected, and many varying amounts of things he needed to look over or requested more information on.

"You can take these back to my father too," he said as he handed Chip some of the stacks of papers.

"Sir," Chip looked back at the young half-faery lying in Ben's bed, "Should you leave her to wake up alone?" Ben glanced up and glared at his friend.

"We didn't do anything if that is what you're trying to say." he answered in his King voice.

 _I already have enough on my plate from the Counsel about this relationship, I don't need you instigating any more rumors when I haven't even kissed her!_

"Okay sorry," Chip replied as he answered his hands in surrender.

"She fell asleep here and I didn't have the heart to wake her," Ben told chip as he sat in his chair and leaned back. "Besides, we haven't even kissed yet." he confided.

 _I don't understand!_

"Why not?" Chip asked concerned, it was highly unusual for a couple to not kiss in Auradon.

"Every time I try to and there is a special moment and all, I don't know, she pulls away. It's like she's afraid or something."

"Have you talked with her about it?"

"No," Ben answered sheepishly.

"Sir! You have to talk with her about the relationship!"

"I know, but I don't want to scare her away."

"Sir," he gave the King a pointed look, "talk."

"Alright, alright, alright I here you." He sighed and grabbed his coffee off the desk. "That's all for now Chip," Ben looked up to stare Chip in the eyes, "Thank you," he told the man sincerely.

"Your welcome Sir," Chip answered as he bowed and left the room with his new stack of papers. Ben took a long drink of his coffee and settled in to work. He glanced at the sleeping girl in his bed to make sure that she was still in a deep sleep. The first paper that Ben picked up to review was the request for more kids from the Isle.

 _How can I approve more children to come? They want at least two more to come this week! On the one hand, the children we brought over the first time chose good and have proved that they aren't their parents. But on the other, I have only heard bad things coming from the Isle._

Ben looked closer at the sleeping half-faery. He remembered the scars that riddled her back.

 _I can't bring more._

He made the decision and checked the box, denying the request. But he added that he would bring four more children after the term ended.

 _I hope I'm not making a mistake._


	7. Chapter 7

Carlos POV

"You did what!" Carlos yelled at his roommate.

"I didn't have a choice." Jay answered sheepishly. He had just gotten done telling Carlos all about how he told Audrey some of their secrets. Most of them were about him, but some had to do with Mal too.

"What do you mean you didn't have a choice? There's not telling her and not pissing off Mal and then there's telling her and Mal potentially killing you both!"

 _What the hell was he thinking? She's going to kill him. This was as much her secret as his!_

"I trust her okay. I'm with Evie on this one, we need to build trust in our relationships and open ourselves up."

"Who are you and what have you done with Jay?" Carlos was bewildered.

 _Since when does he want a real relationship? I thought he was just in to getting it on with her._

"I'm sorry Carlos, but it's true and you know it. You are just fortunate enough to already have someone special."

"Ya, someone who is not here." Carlos grumbled. "What's to stop Audrey from blabbing to the world? And what about Ben! He's probably going to kill you for this when he finds out!"

"She promised not to tell, but Mal needs to tell Ben."

"Ya, like that'll ever happen. We all know how closed off she can be." Carlos rolled his eyes and resumed game play. He was still trying to beat the last level of the game.

 _It would help if people would stop having a crisis while I'm playing._

"Aren't you worried about her?" Jay asked his roommate.

"I'm not following."

"She woke up in the forest with no memory of everything that happened after I cut her."

Carlos stopped the game again to look at his friend concerned.

"She did heal extremely fast too," Carlos added. "Could it be her dad?" They exchanged worried glances.

"I have no idea, I told Audrey because we need more people watching her. I didn't tell her everything though."

"Don't. The rest of the secrets are Mal's to give out when she wants to. We can't run the chance of it somehow getting back to Ben before she's ready."

Carlos, thinking that his opinion on the matter was no longer needed, resumed game play again. He was defeated after two more minutes and had to restart the level frustrated.

"What's she going to do? Kill us? That's not so bad." Jay tried to joke but he had no idea what she was capable of here. Even on the Isle it was questionable at times. Her temper had resulted in a few kids never being seen again.

"You're kidding right? You don't think she'll hurt herself?" Carlos was annoyed.

 _Of course he would think only about her hurting others!_

"Nah, I got rid of the knife and told her I wasn't going to do it anymore." Carlos gave up on the game, stalked over and smacked Jay on the head.

"What was that for?" Jay asked rubbing his head where Carlos had smacked him, half tempted to wrestle him to the ground for it. Carlos hardly ever started a fight, but he always finished one.

"Because you are an idiot! Mal doesn't need you to cut her, she can do it herself. She's been doing it to herself of and on for weeks and you haven't even noticed!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Are you really that dense?"

"No?" Jay stuck his tongue out at his friend.

"I swear!" Carlos threw up his hands, "That doesn't just go away here. In fact, here has made it worse or have you not noticed how drained she is. She's gotten paler and thinner since we got here."

"So?"

"SO, she is overworking herself trying to please her mother and now that that is gone, what do you think she is going to do?"

"Oh's right you stupid head! You have no idea why she does it do you?" Carlos was yelling in his face now.

"I thought I did."

 _You are such a fool! You let it go too far because you weren't paying attention to your friend._

"We need to talk to Evie."

"Why?" Carlos asked intrigued.

"She might be able to keep Audrey in line."

"She's going to want to talk to Doug about this." Carlos sighed.

"Then we let her, we all need to open up."

"Good luck telling Mal that."

"Well, for now we watch. If she really is losing control then we go to someone that can help."

"Ben?"

"No, Fairy Godmother. Ben can only find out from Mal."

"Agreed." They fist bumped and turned back to the game.

"I bet you a day with Dude that I can win this level?" Jay laughed at Carlos's bet.

"Why would I want a day with Dude boy?"

"Fine, how about my chocolate stash versus yours?" That was what Carlos wanted to bet the whole time. He knew that in order to get Jay to take the bet, Carlos had to offer him something that he would not want first.

"I'll take that bet! You get one try dog lover."

"You are on then thief!" They fist bumped again and Carlos finally went back to the game to win. He was so full of adrenaline from his conversation with Jay that he hardly noticed that he had won the game. The only person in all of Auradon to beat the game and all he got out of it was Jay's stash of chocolate. Needless to say, Jay did not go to bed happy that night.

Audrey POV

Audrey was standing in the dark of her room waiting for Doug to pass by. When she got back from dinner with her parents earlier, she had quickly noticed that Evie and Mal were not there. She knew that Doug would insist on walking with Evie back to her dorm so she only had to wait in the cover of darkness. She needed to talk to him as soon as possible. She saw a flash of blue and quickly closed the door enough so that she could just barely see out a crack in her door. When she saw them start to kiss, she nearly gagged and looked away.

 _Ew, so gross! She could do so much better. Why did Doug have to fall for his father's villain's kid? Ugh!_

When she heard the door click shut, she quickly looked back out the crack and waited for him to pass her door. When he did, she grabbed his shirt and dragged him into her room, slamming the door in the process. She through him in the chair in her room and flicked the lights on.

Her room was covered in pink and blues and looked as if it was a single person's room except for the lamp that was sitting near the door on the bookshelf. Despite being a Princess, her parents wanted her to learn to play nice with others so she always had a roommate. Fortunately that roommate was Jordan, the genie's daughter, who only needed her lamp leaving the room to Audrey. This worked in Audrey's favor as well because she got double the closet space and double the vanity space. Plus, Jordan rarely spent time in the room because it was quieter and less pink in her lamp.

Doug, momentarily blinded by the sudden light, blinked a few times and straightened his glass before accessing his surroundings.

"We need to talk," Audrey spoke to Doug from behind him causing him to jump.

"Apparently Audrey," he looked her in the eyes, "don't you know it's illegal to kidnap someone?"

"Seriously?" she rolled her eyes and sat down across from him in her chair, "I did not kidnap you."

"If this is some elaborate scheme just to get me to break up with Evie and get me to see the 'error of my ways' then I'm leaving. I am not listening to that again."

"That's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Then what?" Doug asked curious. She had never wanted to talk to him if it was not degrading him in some way before.

"I need your help with something."

"What?" Doug's mouth fell open in shock.

"Is it really tat hard to believe that I would ask you for help?"

"Well, yes, actually." Audrey looked at him annoyed by his response.

"It's about the Isle Kids." she answered timidly.

 _What if he does not want to help me, then what do I do?_

Doug stiffened and eyed her.

(Doug POV) _What is she up to?_

"I need you to look up any information that Auradon has kept record of them before they got here."

"Why" Doug was right to be weary of her intentions.

"I can't tell you."

(Doug POV) _Red Flag_

"And why not?"

"Because Jay asked my not to."

"Wait, Jay is in on this?"

"Well, not exactly."

"You and Jay are friends now?"

"Dating actually." Doug's mouth fell open again.

"What?"

"I am not explaining the dynamics of our relationship."

"Fine, I'm not investigating my friends."

"I just want to know more about them."

"You're going to use this to blackmail them."

"No, I'm not. I just want to know more about them."

"Then ask."

"What if they don't know though? They might not know the answers and they might not realize how much Auradon has on them."

 _And by the look on his face, that is one point for Audrey._

"This sounds like a Ben problem."

 _Crap, I can't go to Ben._

"And what if Ben does not like their secrets? We could lose our relationships."

 _Now, I've got him._

"Alright, I'll see what I can find out."

"Thanks" she smiled a genuine smile at him.

 _He cares that much about Evie that he would readily go against his best friend for her? Maybe there is more to this than meets the eye. These villain kids brought the strangest changes here. Hmm, there not all bad though._

"I'll try to help as much as I can." Doug nodded at her and walked over to her computer, signing on under her name.

"How did you do that?"

"Genius, remember? And seriously, your password is 'Aurora' that is like everyone's first guess for you."

Rolling her eyes Audrey dragged her chair over and sat beside him.

"So where do you want to begin?"

"Public Records."

 _That should be where their birth certificates and other legal misdemeanors are._

"Okay," Doug logged onto the public records information database and looked for the Isle kids. "Interesting."

"What?"

"The only thing here on them is their name, grade, and who their Villain parent is. Nothing else is here and it should be here."

"Hmm, okay, try the signing in using a council's information. They have a more elaborate database."

"Um, Audrey, I don't have an access for that."

"Well, lucky for you, I know my mother's login 'genius'." Doug glared at her remark but allowed her to sign in. Once she as in, Doug pulled up the file in the Isle kids and started with Jay.

"Okay, it says here that Jay is the son of Jafar, duh, and mother is deceased. There isn't a name though. According to the database, he was never convicted in a crime. Huh, I thought he would've been."

"Doug, I don't think there was a legal system over there."

"Right, okay, Carlos is the son of Cruella and Cruella's husband who went insane and currently is in a mental institute in Wonderland. No misdemeanors either. Evie, daughter of the Evil Queen and King Leopold. Snow White's dad? How is that possible?"

 _I guess she really is a princess. Who would've thought it?_

"Didn't he die when Snow was really little?"

"Ya, hmm, no background information on that and no law breaking either."

"Okay, what about Mal."

"All it say is daughter of Maleficent and no law breaking."

"No father?"

"Nope, there isn't even a birth certificate."

"Hmm, what about the King's files?"

"You want me to break into my best friends file?"

"Well, yes."

"No way! I could get in serious trouble for that!"

"We need to know more Doug, this literally said nothing which means that if there is anything, it is in Ben's files."

"Fine!" Doug went back to the Public Database and after a few codes, pulled up the login for the King's Database, "So, any clue on his password?"

 _Crap, of course he does not know that!_

"Try something Mal related." Doug tried a few passwords ranging from Mal's name to an 'I Love' statement with no luck.

"Okay, what about something about being King?"

"Ben isn't as conceited as you are."

"Okay fine," she shot him a glare, "try something with his parents."

After a few attempts Doug was surprise when he got in. Apparently Ben's password was ROAR.

"What did you do?"

"I'm not telling you!"

"Okay fine," she held up her head in defense, "just look up Jay then."

"Fine," he pressed a few buttons and was surprised to see the file on the Isle kids had more than 4 names in it, "Is Ben planning on bringing more over?"

"Maybe, I doubt he will now though."

"Should we be doing this Audrey? I mean, can't Jordan hear us?"

"Jordan is home with her dad." She gave Doug a funny look, "she left with Aladdin's kids a few days ago. Remember?"

"Oh, right," turning back to the screen he added, "It looks like Jay is known for being a thief, having anger management problems, enjoying hurting others, and only one death."

"He killed someone!" Audrey asked distraught.

 _Dating a villain kid from the Isle is bad enough, but a murder! My grandparents will never allow it!_

"No, it says here that a little boy died in the presence of Jay, but that is all."

 _Oh thank you! I can still be with him now!_

"Hmm, there's a locked file on here too. I can't unlock it though. It's a link to someone else so we will have to go there to find out wat it is. Hmm, looks like Jay's mother died in childbirth."

 _My poor Jay! Never knowing a mother's affections._

"He is also a really good fighter and is known to be friends with Mal, Evie, Carlos, Jack and Yuna."

"Who is Jack and Yuna?"

"I don't know, ask Jay! I'm not looking anyone else up besides our friends."

"Fine. Move on to Carlos."

"Looks like Carlos has a fear of dogs, well, had a fear of dogs. Known for being a nuisance to the public by stealing things and messing with them before he gives it back. Also, really good at electronics. Nothing really major, his mother is obsessed with treating him like a servant though. Friends with the same kids as Jay, but looks like he has a more intimate relationship with Yuna. Known for doing drugs apparently."

"Well, there aren't any drugs here."

"Must be why he is friends with Dude."

"Okay, he is boring. What about your girl?"

"I don't want to look."

"What if there is something that she doesn't know?"

Doug thought it over before answering, "Fine."

 _It is so easy manipulating people._

"I guess her mom performed a spell conceiving Evie with the late King Leopold. According to DNA tests, she is his and is entitled to half of his inheritance."

"See! She probably didn't know that. Snow is going to be so mad though."

"There looks to be a debate here between the council about whether or not to award her King Leopold's kingdom and council seat. Most think she is too young to tell whether or not she will be a good queen. They can't deny her when she is older though it looks like. She's known for being friends with the same group as well and being over the top about her beauty. There isn't any potential misdemeanors though."

 _She really was a good two shoes before she got here._

"What about Mal?"

"Nothing, it's the same as your parents file. There is only this locked file that I can't open."

"But you are logged in under the King!"

"So this is the best kept secret in the kingdom that it looks like Ben won't even have access to until he takes over the Kingdom officially."

"So who knows about it then?"

"My guess, only Fairy Godmother, Belle and King Adam."

 _Now what do I do!_

"Thanks anyway." Audrey replied defeated. She had never been so sincere before that Doug was shocked.

"We got some information."

"I know, we will just need to talk to them I guess."

 _I have a feeling that I know what part of that locked file is._

"You said that Carlos was good with electronics."

"Ya, so?" Doug asked as he logged off the computer and wiped any trace that they were in the database.

"So he might be able to open that file."

"Or he might know what is in that file."

 _How manipulative. I like it._

"Well Doug, there is more to you than meets the eye I guess."

"Thanks." he blushed.

"We can't just ask him though. We need them to open up to us this information, get them to trust us completely and then we can ask them to do this."

"Why can't we just ask?"

"If I were them, I would be afraid that Ben might send me back to the Isle if I broke the law again."'

"Okay fine," he muttered as he stood up. Glancing at the clock, he realized that he was a few minutes past curfew, "Crap! I have to go." He ran to the door to throw it open and race to his room before Fairy Godmother caught him.

"Um…bye?" Audrey replied after Doug was already out the door.

 _Well, that was very interesting. What is the Council hiding about Mal?_

Ben POV

Ben was so absorbed that when he heard her screams for the first time, he threw up his papers in a frenzy and rushed to the door to open it and protect whoever was screaming. Seeing no one and hearing nothing, Ben shut the door and turned to grab his papers when he noticed Mal thrashing about on the bed.

 _Oh, she screamed. Wait, she screamed! Mal!_

Ben leaped over the carpet to run to Mal's side. She had a look of pain on her face and was sweaty. Ben grabbed hand and noticed the little cuts running up and down her arm.

 _Are those scratch marks?_

He felt her forehead and noticed that she was burning up. He took the blanket off her and was surprised by what he saw.

 _She's covered in them!_

There were little scratch marks all over her body.

"Mal!" he tried desperately to shake her awake, but it wouldn't work. She was in too deep of a sleep.

"Mal!" he called to her again grabbing her shoulders and forcefully moving her.

"MAL!" his voice got louder as he grabbed some water and threw it on her trying to wake. He was getting more desperate as her cuts got deeper.

 _I can't wake her. I don't know what to do! Mal! Come back to me!_

"Mal," he whispered as tears started to fall down his cheeks, landing on her shoulder. One tear landed on her nose causing Ben to run his finger down her forehead and nose again to wipe it off.

"Mal, my little half-faery, please don't leave me her alone." he whispered to her as he dragged his finger down her forehead. When he reached between her eyes, he noticed her breathing quicken and her body relax as if she was waking up.

"Wake up my love," he whispered to her as her eyes started to flutter. When his finger reached that tip of her nose, her eyes finally fluttered open.

"Hi," she uttered to him, but Ben could tell that it was hard for her. He didn't need to see the bruises on her throat to know that her throat was sore. However, relief flooded Ben's senses when she was finally talking again. He couldn't help himself and grabbed her head to kiss her, but she turned her head at the last second when she realized what he wanted causing him to kiss her cheek. Despite the pang in his heart, he was content because she was okay.

 _We need to talk tonight._

Ben hugged Mal as she slowly woke up. The more coherent she became, the more she started to shake. She could remember bits and pieces of her nightmare, but she couldn't remember it all. It was the same dream that she had been having since she arrived in Auradon. This was the first time that the bruises on her throat made it out of the dream though. The cuts on her body had been appearing every morning since Family Day.

 _It must have been a really bad dream._

Mal sat there in silence, shaking in Ben's arms. She was so cold.

"Mal," he whispered at her, running his fingers through her hair.

 _It's so much softer than I thought her hair would be._

"What time is it?" she asked while pulling out of grasp. She had felt so safe and loved in his arms, but she knew it couldn't last.

Glancing at the clock, he sighed, "about 10 minutes after curfew."

"What!" she threw the blanket off her and jumped off the bed. She was ready to run out the door.

Mal POV

 _I have to go! It's after curfew! Fairy Godmother is…_

The room started to spin.

… _going to kill…_

Mal felt her thoughts start go fuzzy.

 _..What's happening… to me…_

Mal felt her legs start to give out.

"Mal?" Ben asked suddenly alarmed when he saw her stagger. Her mind had gone too long without oxygen when she felt her body give out. She was surprised to find that Ben had caught her from falling on the floor.

She relaxed against him causing Ben to wrap his arms around her waist supporting her leaning against him.

"Are you okay?" he asked concerned. He could feel her breathing against him, it was very weak.

"I'm fine," she tried to push him off and stand up on her own, but it was a weak effort.

 _His arms are so comfortable and warm. I'm so cold._

Ben looked at her closely and brushed the hair away from her neck.

(Bens POV) _She is definitely not fine._

Her bruising had already healed to a dark green and yellow, but her cuts were still deep. She was still sweating and shaking.

(Bens POV) _She feels like she is in shock._

He took a long smell of her hair and realized that she was most definitely in shock.

(Bens POV) _What was this dream?_

"You are not going anywhere."

"But curfew," her eyes were fluttering shut.

"Oh no you don't, stay awake Mal," he half dragged her to the bathroom and turned the shower on high. Waiting for it to get warm, but not too hot. When the water was finally to Ben's liking, he pushed both him and a shivering Mal into the water. Of course, his suit was going to get soaked, but he could care less right now. He was more concerned with Mal's well-being right now.

 _It's cold, It's so cold! It's…_

The water was enough to shock Mal out of her shock.


	8. Chapter 8

Hey everyone! Thank you so much for your awesome reviews! I really enjoy reading them all Please leave more! I love to hear your thoughts!

Mal's POV

Ben had just pushed Mal into the shower in an attempt to shock her out of her shock. Luckily it had worked. Blood rushed to her head as she slowly began to take in her surroundings. She was standing in the largest shower that she had ever seen. There were heads everywhere pointed at her blowing cool water that soaked her clothes. She stopped shivering as she came to her senses. She looked down and saw red staining her clothes from the scratches. They were much deeper than they used to be. Mal started to look up and saw Ben in the shower with her.

 _How is it legal to be that hot?_

Ben's clothes were also soaked through, causing his shirt to cling to his body. The water also caused it to be transparent clinging to every muscle curve that he had. Mal lost her thoughts starring at his chiseled chest.

"Mal?" Ben's voice rang out, echoing against the shower walls. He watched as the blood from the cuts was washed down the drain. He looked up to see the bruises on her neck had faded to just a dark yellow. Seeing that she wasn't going to respond, he grabbed her hand and held it up to a water spout. He looked at her for permission before grabbing the washcloth from the side of the shower and placing it on her arm. He looked at her again before slowly wiping the cloth up her arm. He watched as the scratches healed as his cloth passed over them.

 _They don't sting as bad anymore._

Mal slowly let herself relax into his touch. She lifted her gaze and watched his face as he ran the cloth up her arm across her shoulders and down her other arm. Ben kissed her hand when he was done with both arms and raised his gaze to meet hers. The openness in her eyes made him swallow in shock.

(Bens POV) _I've never seen her so open before. She smells so strong now, granted the blood is not helping much. I just want to touch her everywhere._

Ben dropped to one knee and ran the cloth up one leg causing Mal's breath to hitch when he reached her thigh. He wiped off both thighs without 'accidentally' wiping anything else off despite what his body was trying to get him to do. He knew that if he did that, she would never trust him again. Not while she was in this vulnerable state at least.

 _This feels amazing._

Mal's eye closed and her head dropped as his cloth made it down her other leg. She felt the change to his finger-tips as he grazed them up her leg to her arm and then her shoulder. The point was to not startle her when he reached her shoulders to turn her around.

 _oh.._

Mal's mouth opened slightly from the sensation of his skin on hers. This caused Ben to stop breathing, fighting to control his hormones. When he reached her shoulders and turned her around, the spell was partially broken. It was just enough for him to run the cloth down her back without jumping her. He turned her back around with the cloth running along her hip to wipe her stomach.

Seeing that her eyes were still shut, he cleared his throat to get her attention. Mal opened her eyes and looked at him.

 _How can anyone feel that much for someone? The way that he is looking at me is sending chills down my spine. What is this, this feeling in my chest? This tightness?_

Starring deep into her eyes, he folded the cloth up the best he could, placing it on her shoulder. He kept starring at her eyes as he slowly dragged the cloth along her collar bone. He felt her chest rise as he dragged the cloth down the center of her chest. He slowly brought the cloth along the top of her sports bra. Swallowing in ecstasy, he brought the cloth to the center of her chest again, dragging it down and then slowly across the top of her bra on the other side. He watched her the whole time to make sure that she was okay with him doing this to her.

(Bens POV _) I don't want to scare her. She is too precious to me. I need to make sure she is okay first, but boy do I want to kiss her. This is intoxicating. Her soaked clothes are barely covering anything. I just want to glance, but I can't. Focus Ben._

Ben placed the cloth on her other shoulder and dragged it across her collar bone. All of the scratches were healed now with the only proof that they ever existed being the blood that had stained his shirt. Ben glanced to her neck and cupped her face with his free hand. He tilted her head up by placing his thumb under her chin in order to drag the cloth across her throat seductively. He couldn't contain himself anymore. It was too much for him.

He dropped the cloth to place his hand on the wall behind her after turning them both into the wall. He backed her up just enough so that her back was against the jets with w few more inches then either of them would like between their bodies. Leaning down, his nose touched her neck and he inhaled to savor her scent. Tilting his head up just enough, he placed a soft kiss on the pressure point of her throat where her artery ran.

Mal shivered in delight.

 _No one has ever been that sweet with me before. That, that felt amazing. I can't kiss him back though, I just can't it isn't special._

Ben, feeling a little bit braver, placed another kiss along her jawline.

 _Oh magic Ben, that's indescribable._

He smiled against her jaw when he heard her sharp intake of breath against his ear. Ben let his lip run along her jaw as he brought his lips up to her cheek to kiss her cheek. Water started to run down their faces as she leaned against the wall. He was afraid the she had fallen back into shock at first, but was relieved when he felt her chest rising and falling faster while her hand reached up to grab his forearm that he was leaning against.

Ben resumed his play and tilted her head down with his hand so that he could run his lips up her cheek to kiss her temple. He felt Mal swallow against his hand in response. He smirked when he realized that he awakened the same raw emotion in her as she did in him.

 _I don't know how much more of this I can take. It's so tempting. Is one kiss worth it?_

He tilted her head down more and ran his lips to her forehead and kissed there. This kiss was meant to be less as seductive as his other kisses were. He did this in hopes that it would help loosen her tension and open her up more to him. He continued his path down between her eyes and ran his lip lightly down her nose. Knowing that the nose can be one of the most sensitive spots on the face, he wanted to make sure it was extra seductive. Just before he got to the tip of her nose, he felt her reach out to his abdomen with her other hand. Instead of pushing him away, she grabbed her shirt and knotted her hand in it. Taking this as a sign of approval, he kissed the tip of her nose, sucking just a little bit to bring some added pressure against his kiss. The effect worked causing her to open her mouth and suck a breath in.

 _Ben, this isn't fair. This is too good. There is absolutely no way that you feel this for me. I'm a villain. I'm wicked. I'm rotten to the core. I'm everything wrong for you. I'm a terrible- oh_

Ben had just pressed his knew between her legs, spreading them apart slightly. He leaned forward a little bit, pressing her closer to the wall. The added closeness caused her thumb to slip between the buttons on his shirt, her skin grazing is skin.

 _It's so much softer and more muscular than I thought it would be._

Mal's eyes slowly opened as she looked up at his. He was begging her to allow him to kiss her with his eyes.

(Bens POV) _Please Mal._

Ben rested his nose lightly against hers, inhaling her scent with every passing moment.

 _I don't know what to do._

Ben, seeing no response he decided to test his luck. He leaned forward and felt his lips barely start to touch hers before she turned away and he felt his heart sink. He kissed her head instead and backed away. Suddenly feeling the water that was once warm as cool.

"Why do you keep doing that?" he asked her.

"What do you mean?"

"You always pull away Mal."

"I"

"If you don't want to be with me, that's fine, but just tell me Mal." he answered.

 _No! I don't want that! It's just, I can't!_

Ben sighed and leaned over her to turn the water off. The jets from the shower sent water running down his face. His hand had just reached the controls when Mal stepped forward. She stepped forward, pressing her bod against Ben's. Ben froze in response, not sure how to handle this situation. Mal raised her head up to Ben's head, leaving it an inch from his face.

"That isn't it," she whispered, placing her hands on his chest. Ben turned the water dial up to increase the heat, but didn't take his body away from hers.

"Then what is it."

"I can't Ben, I just can't." Ben could hear the pain behind her words as she turned away. He knew that she wanted him. He just couldn't understand why she wouldn't let him.

"Let me in Mal, I'm not going to punish you for your past. I just want to know you. I want to love you in every way that I can." Ben answered sincerely. Before Mal could talk herself out of it, she lifted her lips to his and just barely set them against her. It wasn't a kiss but it almost was. They stayed there for a moment, both daring the other to move the slightest making it a kiss.

 _Don't think about it Mal, just do it_.

Ben breathed in through his mouth as he inhaled her scent. Her lips just barely touching hers, he couldn't do it anymore. He was dying from the wait. Ben closed his eyes and pressed forward the lightest bit.

His lips were met with her soft plump ones. Ben could feel her hesitation at first, but then it was gone, replaced with her insistence. Mal puckered her lips against his and closed her eyes. It was the best kiss Ben had ever had. Her lips felt as if they were made for his. Ben, overwhelmed with passion backed her back against the shower. He grabbed her head in between his hands and tilted her head up so that he could deepen the kiss while pressing his hips into hers. Mal could feel the obvious arousal that the whole shower scene had caused.

 _He's going to leave now, I just know it. It's going to happen._

Ben didn't leave though. He didn't even break the kiss. Instead, he let his tongue glide out of his mouth, grazing against her lip. She opened her mouth readily, as if it was second nature to her. There never was a fight for dominance of the kiss with them. Ben took it before Mal ever had a chance to even think about taking it. Ben pulled her lips closer to his and ground his hips against hers. Mal moaned before responding by moving her hips against his.

 _He didn't stop. He isn't leaving. He's staying? How? Why?_

Ben broke the kiss and looked at her with a guarded face. Mal heard a low growl come from deep within Ben's chest as is eyes started to glaze.

"Stop that, I'm not leaving." his voice rang out against the shower breathless with passion.

 _How did he know what I said?_

Ben growled again and let go of her face. He leaned down to grip the back of Mal's thigh before pulling it up to wrap around his waist. Staring into her eyes, he rotated his hips against her's, hitting her stronger now. Passion evident in his eyes, Ben dropped his head to capture her lips in his as continued his assault.

 _Where did he learn his? How can he make this feel so good?_

Mal's hands rested on his chest in reaction to being suddenly on one leg. The more he moved against her though, the more her fingers started to slip between his shirt. She felt his growl resonate in his chest when her hand finally met his bare skin. He reached down and lifted her other leg around his waist making her jump as she was no longer standing. Ben took the opportunity and kissed his way across her jaw line and down to her neck, softly nibbling against her skin every once and a while.

Mal moaned when his soft bite made contact with her artery. Ben let go of the wall and gripped both of her hands, raising them above her head. Ben was starting to lose control and he could feel the last bits of I slither away. If he didn't stop soon then there might not be any stopping.

Ben started to bite a little bit harder on her throat when Mal started to feel a little bit of pain.

 _No! I can't use him like this! He can't be one of those guys!_

"Ben!" she whispered out, "stop."

Ben immediately stopped kissing her neck and looked up at her, afraid that he had hurt her. He watched her face as his breathing finally returned to normal before letting go of her hands to cup her face. Timidly, he kissed her one more time before unwinding himself from her legs. Then he reached over and shut off the water of the shower.

Mal was still having trouble breathing and felt as if she had been hit with a truck. She leaned forward and rested her forehead against Ben's chest as she waited to breath.

"Let me get you something to dry off with," Ben whispered as he moved away from her to leave the shower. He dried himself off first before changing into his pajama pants that of course had little crowns on them. He grabbed one of his old Tourney jerseys for Mal to wear and a towel for her before heading back into the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Mal had leaned against the shower wall when Ben left.

 _Oh no! What have I done?_

Mal could feel the onset of a panic attack and felt herself slide down to the floor before her legs cold give out. Resting her head between her knees she tried to calm down.

 _I can't do this here. I have to, I have to go. I need to find Jay or someone. Anyone but Ben!_

Mal heard the door open and quickly rushed to her feet before Ben could notice that she was on the floor. She needed to get out of his room as soon as possible. Ben opened the door and handed her a towel to dry herself of with. She quickly did so and then was handed Bens old Tourney jersey. It was the one from his freshman year and barely covered her ass, let alone anything else, her clothes were soaked though so she didn't have much of a choice.

 _I need to get out of here._

Ben watched through the mirror on accident when she took her bra off. He could only see her back and the side of her breast before his erection was back in full force. She stepped out of the shower too soon with her things and Ben had to readjust his standing position so that she didn't see.

"Thanks, but I should go." she walked out the bathroom door and went to leave his room before Ben caught her.

"And where do you think you are going?"

 _Please just let me go._

"My room." she started to pull away and Ben frowned, tightening his grip.

"It's after curfew."

 _Ben please._

"So I'll be careful."

"And if you are caught?"

 _You don't understand Ben!_

"I'll say I was with Jay or Carlos or something."

"Barely dressed in my Tourney jersey?"

 _Let me go!_

"I need to go Ben." Mal tried to get away as she felt the onset of panic again.

 _NO!_

"Mal? Just stay here, it's fine."

 _I can't!_

"Ben, I need to."

 _Crap, please stop, let me go._

"What's wrong?" Ben creased his brow, but it was already too late. The panic attack had already set itself inside Mal.

"Fine," she turned her direction to his bathroom again and ran inside, locking the door on her way in.

Ben's POV ***

Ben stood there confused for a moment before it dawned on him to go find out what's wrong. Luckily, the bathroom door lock was a fake. Opening the door with ease, he found that Mal was hiding in the corner shaking. She was holding something silver, but Ben couldn't make out what it was. He caught the smell of her and recognized the smell of blood. Stepping closer, he realized what the silver item was. It was his shaving blade that he kept near his sink. Ben watched for a moment as she held the tip against her leg and watched as she slowly slide it inside her leg. Realization dawned on him when he finally was able to figure what she was doing.

 _She cuts. My sweet Faery was driven to harming herself by the Isle? This can't happen anymore._

Ben slowly walked up to sink to grab another wet towel to clean up the blood. He walked closer to her even slower so as to not startle her. She was so lost in her own panic that she didn't notice him until he had rested his hand on top of hers, steadying it.

"I'm sorry," she choked out.

"Shh sweetheart," he mumbled to her as he took the blade out from under her hands and out of her leg, replacing it with the towel. "it's okay. I still love you. I'm not going anywhere."

Mal let the tears that she had been fighting for years overwhelm her defenses and fall down her cheeks. She felt as if she did not deserve Ben, he was too perfect for her.

"Do you want to tell me what that was about?" she shook her head in reply.

"Not tonight." He took the towel off her and was glad to see the wound was healed already. He stood her up and walked her out of the bathroom, stopping by his dresser to lock the blade in his top drawer for now.

 _Guess all sharp objects need to be watched from now on._

Ben guided her dazed self over to his bed and laid her down.

"Go back to sleep Mal." he kissed her forehead.

"Stay" she whispered surprising herself.

"Oh Mal, I'm not going anywhere." he gestured for the lights to shut off and climbed in next to her.

"Ben?" came her broken voice.

"Yes Mal."

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to, I tried to keep myself from it."

Ben rolled over and kissed her cheek, grabbing her body and pulling it into his.

 _I can't be mad at her for this. I just hope that this is all that she is keeping from me._

"Don't keep stuff from me Mal."

"'kay," came her whisper as she fell into sleep.

 _What am I going to do?_

The was the first night that Mal's nightmare didn't make it out of her sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

Hey Guys! I'm sorry that it took so long to write this chapter. I wasn't sure where I wanted the story to go at this point. I promise that the next chapter will be so much better. FYI, there may or may not be a trigger in this chapter. It depends on your point of view. Thank you so much for the reviews! Please keep them up, I love to hear what you guys think.

Mal POV

Mal slowly woke up from her never ending nightmare that had been plaguing her for months. She opened her eyes to find her surroundings were not familiar. Mal was lying on her back in a warm bed, her head resting on pillow that was as fluffy and soft as a cloud.

 _Where am I?_

As she slowly began to gain more consciousness, she realized that the room was not hers. The bed, though it was more comfortable, was not hers. The lighting in the room was too bright to be hers. The pressure on her chest was not coming from her.

Mal looked down to see what was on her chest and found an arm draped across her chest, an arm that was not hers.

 _What the? Who?_

The arm was a light tan skin tone with brown hair lightly covering the forearm and was very muscular. Mal followed the length of the arm to the shoulder that was flexed, awaking desire inside her

 _Whoever's shoulder this is must be an athlete or warrior or something._

She continued her trail up to the messy brown hair that had light streaks running through it.

 _It looks so familiar. I know that hair and that scent. It's, oh gosh, it's, who is it again?_

Mal stared at the boy's hair, lifting her arm to brush his hair away from his face in hope of seeing who he was. Unfortunately he was facing away from her, but the feel of his hair beneath her fingers was enough.

 _Ben._

Ben was laying on his stomach with one arm curled under his head and the other was draped across Mal's chest with his hand under her pillow. He was holding her close, as if he was protecting her from outsiders, but also as if he was afraid she would leave him. Mal lifted the blanket up that was covering them both and tried to shimmy out from under his arm. She made it and was sitting on the side of the bed when she noticed her pajamas.

 _What am I wearing? Is this Ben's Jersey? How did I get in this?_

Mal walked slowly across the room, trying not to wake him. She found her original clothes draped across the table chairs in his room.

 _What happened here?_

Grabbing them, she looked back at the bed, noticing for the first time that Ben didn't have a shirt on.

 _He's shirtless and hot. But if he doesn't have a shirt on and I have his Jersey then… what did we do? Oh no! Not that! Anything but that!_

Mal slowly backed away from the room, closing the door as quietly as she could. Jogging down the hall, she opened the door to Jay and Carlos's room to sneak in before anyone saw her running from Ben's room in noting but a shirt. Both boys were still very much asleep when she turned around. Neither one had noticed someone sneaking in their room.

Mal dropped her clothes that she was carrying and walked over to Jay's bed. He was fast asleep on his side with a pillow cuddled into his chest.

"Jay." she whispered while pushing on him lightly. Jay reacted by grabbing Mal's wrist and staring intently at her before realizing who she was.

"Mal?" he asked sitting up, "What are you doing?"

"I think I did something bad."

"You what?"

"Jay, I think I…" Carlos picked this moment to grumble at Jay for talking to loud. Jay threw his pillow that he had been cuddling at Carlos's head.

"Hey! Why did you do that?" Carlos yelled at his roommate while rubbing his head.

"What were you saying?" Jay asked Mal after rolling his eyes at Carlos.

"Oh hey Mal! What time is it?" Carlos grumbled as he got out of his bed and zombie walked over to Jay's bed.

"It's," Jay glanced at the clock, "5," he did a double take, "5 am! Mal! What are you doing here at 5 am!"

"5 am! I should still be sleeping." Carlos grumbled.

"Sorry, I just wanted to talk. Focus guys," she chastised them, "I think I did something bad."

"Okay?" the boys gave each other a look, "Is it something our parents would do?" Carlos asked.

"No, gross."

"Is it something that would require magic?" Jay asked concerned.

"No."

"Then is it life or death?" Carlos asked her.

"No."

"Then we wait for Evie." Jay decided. They were all sitting in a circle on Jay's bed with a spot open for Evie.

"And how is she going to know to come?" Mal asked the boys.

"Right, you didn't come from your room did you?" Jay smirked.

"No, I didn't," she answered in a tone that wiped Jay's smirk off his faith.

"Let's go then." Carlos answered annoyed. He picked up Dude who was still sleeping on Carlos's bed and walked out the door in only shorts with one black leg and one white leg. He was always clueless in the mornings. Jay laughed as Carlos left the doorway, shaking his head at his friend. He finished getting out of bed, grabbing his hat and Carlos's fur jacket. He turned to look back at Mal who hadn't left his bed yet.

"You coming?"

"Ya, right," Mal's eyes focused and she grabbed her stuff leaving the room with Jay.

Evie POV

Evie was getting even more worried as the time ticked by.

 _This is the second night in a row that she hasn't come back!_

Evie sat up in her bed, she was restless from waiting so long. She looked over at the clock and noticed that it was 3 am.

 _3 am! And nothing from Mal or Doug! That's it!_

Evie, having had enough of her friends for the day, reached for her mirror on the nightstand.

"Magic Mirror in my hand, where is Mal in this land?"

The mirror swirled to show Mal, sleeping in someone's bed.

"Not so close please."

The mirror zoomed out enough for Evie to see that Mal was asleep in Ben's bed.

 _Well, that's just great. She goes off and sleeps with her boyfriend and doesn't tell me!_

Evie, annoyed, dropped her mirror on her bedside table and threw her head onto the pillow. Just when she shut her eyes, Carlos came jumping on her bed.

"Carlos! What was that for?" she grumbled at him.

"Get up Evie!" he answered jumping on her bed.

"Get off!" she pushed him down as she sat up.

"Come on Evie!"

"Fine! I'm awake!" She answered as Jay and Mal walked in. Jay sat on Evie's bed, laying down next to her so that he could get some more sleep possibly.

"And where have you been?" Evie asked of Mal.

"Uhm, well." she answered as Carlos laid on the other side of Evie. Both boys were exhausted. "It's a long story."

"Ya right." Evie rolled her eyes at her friend.

"Can we just get on with it already so that we can go back to sleep?" Carlos whined. Dude jumped up on the bed and curled up next to Carlos.

"Fine," Mal answered as she sat on the foot of Evie's bed. "I think I did something bad."

"Okay?" Evie sat up straighter.

 _This has to be good if all of them are here._

"I think I slept with Ben." Carlos sat up, knocking Dude off the bed, with his mouth hung open. Jay just opened one eye and looked at her.

"What do you mean by 'think'," Evie asked.

"Well, I don't remember." Mal answered sheepishly.

"What do you remember?" Jay asked her.

"I remember leaving your room, fighting with Ben about something, and then falling asleep I think."

"Not to point out the obvious or anything, but that doesn't exactly constitute as bad. You guys love each other, right?" Evie asked.

"That's not the point. I woke up with only his shirt on and in his bed."

"That doesn't exactly mean that you slept with him though." Carlos answered.

"But what if I did! We are only here until we mess up and do something bad."

"And you think that sleeping with Ben is going to send you back?"

"It might," she sighed, "he might say that he loves me, but what is he going to do when he finds out about my past and our pasts."

"Well, when you put it that way." Evie answered. "So what do we do?"

"I don't know. Everything has gotten so much more complicated since we got here."

"Maybe you should just tell him." Jay answered. "We do need to put faith in our relationships here."

"And what is to stop the King from sending us all back?" They all looked at each other, no one knowing what to say to their sister.

"We just play it by ear, I don't think you slept with him though." Evie answered.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because normally people wake up naked after they sleep together." Evie smiled. Her mother had taught her everything she would need to know to be a good wife back on the Isle.

"I don't know," Mal got up and walked over to the window. It was still dark outside, but all of the Isle kids could still see fine in the dark. That was one perk of growing up on a dark island. "I just need to take my mind off it then."

"We need to do something together, just the four of us then." Evie replied.

"What did you have in mind?" Carlos asked.

"I have an idea," Jay smirked, "meet me in the gym in an hour."

"We are not playing Tourney." Evie answered.

"Nah, it'll be something more rotten." Jay laughed.

"Not enough to get us expelled I hope." Carlos answered, "I'm… I'm not going back there."

"You take all the fun out of things, but no it won't be something bad."

"Then how is it fun?" Mal asked.

"You'll see," Jay answered as he left the room with Carlos and Dude following at his heels.

"Great," Mal groaned as she made her way over to her side of the room.

"So, is there a reason you are shutting me out?" Evie asked as she got out of bed. She only had an hour to do her morning rituals.

"I'm not shutting you out." Mal replied as she pulled out a set of workout clothes from her dresser.

"You're doing it now M." Evie was pulling out her drawers to get ready.

"I'm sorry Ev," she sighed as she sat down on her bed. "It's just hard to understand."

"Is it the dream again?"

"Yes and no." Evie raised in eyebrow in the mirror at her roommate. "My past is catching up with my future."

"Afraid that Ben isn't going to love you when he finds out about Jay?"

"How did you?"

"Mal," she set her brushes down, "we all know each other's secrets. I know about Jay and I know all about how we all coped with our old life and so does Carlos."

"Right." Mal got up to go take a shower.

"Mal, if you tell Ben about your past, he won't get as mad about it."

"I'll think about it." She answered while going into the bathroom.

 _Ya right, like hell you will._

Mal POV

 _Not very likely_

Mal stepped into the warm shower and stood there, lost in her thoughts.

 _I can't tell him, he won't understand. How can he? He doesn't know what it's like._

Mal grabbed the body wash and squeezed it into her hand.

 _Why didn't I have any scratches this morning?_

Mal started to rub the body wash into her arms when she got a flashback of someone else washing her body. Ben was rubbing a washcloth up her arm, washing the scratches away.

 _What is this?_

Ben dragging the cloth agonizingly slow up her legs.

 _When?_

Ben wiping the cloth across her chest and throat.

 _The bruises, there were bruises last time._

Ben's lips on hers.

"No!" Mal slammed her hands into the shower door, shattering the glass.

 _I can't have allowed that to happen._

Mal looked at her shaking hands and clenched them, anger at herself increasing. She looked at the sharp glass longingly.

"Mal," Evie knocked, "you okay in there?"

 _I can't not now, just hold it together till you can get away._

"Ya, I'm fine." Mal looked at the door again and sighed. With a wave her hand, the glass that was shattered resealed itself to the door. She finished showering and left the bathroom after changing into black leggings and a purple tank top. Evie was just putting the finishing touches on her makeup when Mal walked out of the bathroom.

"You should blow dry your hair, it's not good for your split ends to dry themselves."

"Isn't it the other way around?" Mal smirked at her roommate while using a towel to dry her hair.

"That's only if you aren't trying to impress someone."

"Fine," she laughed at her friend, grabbing her hair dryer she blow dried it to a soft curly blow out. She pulled her shoulder length hair up into a tight pony tail.

"Are you ready?" Evie asked as she finished her braided crown. She was wearing the same black pants and tank top as Mal, but it was royal blue. Her hair was pulled up into a tight pony tail with curls falling down her back.

"Yep," She grabbed her jacket and headed out the door with Evie at her side. It was still early before the sun came up so no one else was awake yet. They made their way down to the gym without running into anyone, not even workers. When they finally made it to the gym, they saw that the boys were already there. Carlos was wearing black basketball shorts and a white long sleeve shirt. He was playing fetch with Dude and a red ball. Jay was wearing black Harem pants and a yellow tank shirt. He also had his red hat still on his head.

"So, what are we doing here?" Mal asked when she made it to the center of the room. It was a large square gym with a control panel in the center.

"We are going to have some fun." Jay smiled, "Let's play a game of capture the flag."

"In here?" Evie asked.

"What is this place?" Mal looked around, not seeing anything interesting.

"This, is the gym. It's a programmable room and I just programmed it into the most awesome practice field." Carlos muttered happily. He had hacked the system earlier in order to create the perfect setting for their game.

"I don't get it." Evie answered.

"Watch," Carlos rolled his eyes and pushed a few buttons on the consol. A few moments later, the terrain in half the gym rose to create a field that was similar to a paint ball field, but there were also blocks hanging from the ceiling and floating in the air. There were creeks that ran through the blocks and fans blowing air in different directions.

"This is…" Evie started.

"Amazing," Evie and Mal said together.

"So, how do we do this?" Mal asked.

"Well, I was thinking that we each get a flag to protect or hide and the first one to get all four flags, wins."

"Okay, boundaries?" Evie asked.

"No magic," Jay looked at Mal purposely.

"Since when do we play by the rules," she smirked in return before stepping onto the field.

"Uh, Jay? So, where are we going to get these flags?" Carlos asked as he secured Dude on the sidelines. He didn't want his furry friend to get hurt.

"Right," Jay thought for a minute, "I've got nothing."

"Our shirts idiot. There all our colors." Mal filled in for her friends without looking back at them. She was still scoping out the terrain in order to find the best place to put her shirt.

"Good idea!" Carlos yelled out while taking his shirt off so it came as more of a mumbled nonsense to his friends. The others rolled their eyes at his enthusiasm while taking their own shirts off. Despite the Isle kids never working out at gyms in their life, mainly because the Isle didn't have a gym, they were all extremely toned.

Carlos, the smallest of the group, still was defined like a runner would be. He was known for being fast on the Isle. He never needed to build up muscle mass because he could out run everyone on the Isle. Jay, the largest of the group, was taller than everyone else, but he also was the most defined. He had larger muscles from practicing fighting with Mal while growing up. They were both known for being the best fighters on the Isle. Mal and Evie were both toned very similar, but Mal had a few more muscled than Evie did. Mal had on a dark purple sports bra while Evie had a dark blue one on.

"Well, now we have flags." Mal murmured as she flipped her shirt between her hands.

"Now we need a weapon of choice," Jay smiled his devious smile as pushed a button on the control panel. It revealed a wall decorated with many different weapons in different sizes.

"These heroes certainly know how to stock up." Mal admired the many weapons. There were swords, bamboo staffs, daggers, throwing knives, shields of varying sizes, bows and arrows, spears, axes, fans, throwing weapons, nun chucks, hammers, and whips.

"What do they use this all for?" Evie asked as she picked up a set of throwing knives. They were black steel with a royal blue blade on both sides with deadly points carved into the edges. It was designed to do extra damage as the victim pulled the knives out.

"Practice mostly, there aren't any villains here to fight against." Carlos answered as he strapped one of the arrow tubes to his back.

 _More like a precaution._

"Now there are." Jay grumbled after taking a set of Chakram blades down. There were spikes along the blades edges that would make it impossible to make a clean cut, but they would prove to be useful against Carlos's arrows.

Mal grabbed the all black Sai blades, tying them to the outside of her thighs before grabbing the wooden staff. The staff was her weapon of choice because it was similar to her mother's, but she always liked to be prepared.

 _There is no way this stupid bamboo staff is going to hold up against anything._

They all made their way into the corners of the floor in order to hide their flags.

"Ready?" Mal called out to her friends. She had hidden her flag on the edge of the floor and placed a protective barrier around it. The barrier was 10 feet out from the flag so that she would know to come back and defend it. Next, she placed another charm on the flag itself so that it would fade in and out of existence every minute and would pop up in random places throughout the circle as a projection of the real thing when it was invisible.

 _No magic, HA! Like hell I'm playing this game without my best defense._

"Ready!" Came the chorus of her friends. They all prepared to run and prepared their weapons to attack. Carlos placed and arrow on his bow and pulled the string enough so that he would be able to use it at a moment's notice. Jay gripped his blades in his hands and swiped at the air in order to get a feel for how the blades moved through the air. Evie twirled her throwing knives around her fingers, waiting patiently for Mal to yell go. She wasn't much of a runner, she preferred to let the competition come to her.

Mal took a deep breath in focused her energy. She didn't need to be out of control when the game started.

 _I already am out of control. Breath Mal, focus._

She twirled the staff around and into her back, tightening her grip.

"GO!"


End file.
